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0. H. SANDERS 





HOW ARE WE LED? 

AND 

Who is it That Leads Us? 


IMPORTANT QUESTIONS CONSIDERED 


BY CHARLES H. SANDERS 

LOWELL, IND. 







Entered, by the Author, according to act of Congress, April 23rd, 1901, in the office of the Librarian 
of Congress, at Washington. 





„ t 


THE LIBRARY OF 
CONGRESS, 

T wo Copitt* Received 

AUG. 19 1901 

Ct^pyright entry 

OJpfL. £3. ICj Of 

CL'ASS <A/xXc. No. 

COPY D. 






* • • • • • 


PREFACE, 


My object in writing this book is to show, to the world my views on 
Christianity, God’s word, and the teachings of Jesus. Also I wish to show 
to the world the teachings that we are receiving at the present time, which 
are called the teachings of Jesus. 

I will say here that when I was a boy, about thirteen years old, I 
wanted to join a church and become a Christian. I attended a protracted 
meeting where many were joining the church. I went forward to a seat 
called “the mourner’s bench,” where a number had kneeled down to be 
prayed for. I, with a sincere heart, knelt by the side of the others, that I 
might be prayed for. 

A minister knelt by the side of one, and prayed for him, and then by 
the side of another, praying for each one separately ; but when he came to 
me, he passed me by. He did not pray for me. In a few days he gave an 
invitation to all that had been prayed for to meet at the river-side to be im- 
mersed. I met with the rest, and again they passed me by without even 
speaking to me. Soon after, they were invited to meet at a church to have 
their names placed on the class book. I met with them, but my name was 
not taken. I never knew why I was passed by, but I afterward thought 
that they would not take members into that church as small as I was. 

But as small as I was, I began to watch the members, and I found that 
some of the shouting members would swear. I soon found also that some 
of the members that would shout in meeting, would steal from their neigh- 
bors. About this time I became prejudiced against church members, and 
shortly after became a disbeliever in churches and Christianity. I soon 
became an infidel. I tried to live, and I tried to be, an infidel, but in spite 
of it all I could not. I saw things that compelled me to believe, — that 
convinced me that there was a God to command, — and that man should obey 
his commands. 

When I began to raise a family, I thought that I would bring up my 
children in a way that they might go to Heaven, whether I went there or 
not. I could not sympathize with any church, for I thought that my fate 
was fixed, and that my doom was sealed. I could not unite with any 
church, yet I wanted to raise my children so that they could gain Heaven, 
and I tried to bring them up in this manner without going to church, or 

[iii] 


iv 


HOW ARE WE LED? 


even studying the Bible. I lived this way for a number of years, trying to 
rear a family of children uprightly, yet not trying to prepare my own soul 
for Heaven. 

Three years ago I began to study the Bible. My wife objected to my 
studying it, but I kept on studying. After pursuing this course about a 
year, I made up my mind that I would try to become a Christian, but I 
could not consent to joining a church. I went to a minister and asked him 
if he would immerse me without asking me to join his church. But after 
he had baptized me, he and his members insisted so strongly on my joining 
the church that I united with them. I never put my name on their class- 
book, yet I united with them, and have always since called the Christian 
Church my church, and shall continue to. call it my church throughout this 
pamphlet. 

After I was immersed, I tried to live a Christian life, not, however, as 
our preachers told me, but as I thought of my own judgment from studying 
the Bible. 

I thought that I ought to live a Christian life by obeying God’s word. 
I searched the Bible from cover to cover, and the plainest teaching that I 
could find in God’s word was in the twentieth chapter of Exodus. I searched 
the New Testament thoroughly, but I could not find one word of comfort in 
it except in the teachings of Jesus and his apostles. In the New Testament 
I found that Jesus taught us to obey God’s word. 

I turned back to the twentieth chapter of Exodus and found that God 
said, Keep the Sabbath day holy, for a sign between God and all persons 
that desire to become children of God. I wanted to be a child of God, so 
I turned again to the New Testament and searched it closely, and found 
that Jesus taught me to keep the Sabbath day holy ; but not to go to ex- 
tremes. That is, if I have two hours’ work of necessity, such as feeding 
stock, building fires, caring for my family, or any work of necessity to do, 
to do it, but to keep the balance of the day holy to the Lord. If I have 
one-half a day’s work of necessity to do on the Sabbath day, to do it, but to 
keep the rest of the day sacred. If it is really necessary to work all day on 
the Sabbath day, do so ; but do not work on the Sabbath, except works of ne- 
cessity. I found this was according to the teaching of Jesus in Mark 2 : 27 ; 
that the Sabbath was made to fit man, and man’s business, but that man was 
not made to fit the Sabbath. I shall hold to this position in my book, that 
the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. 

When I talk about the Bible, I talk it just as I understand it, and for 
this my friends and neighbors have called me fanatical and crazy, a Jew, and 
the like. I was once handed an infidel book called “Ingersoll’s Mistakes.” 
I had studied infidelity for years, so this book did not affect me. I was 


PREFACE. 


y 


next handed a book written by one C. S. Gitchell, a minister of the gospel. 
When I read this book, my mind was carried right back to my youth ; it 
took me back to the church that first drove me into infidelity. 

I at once thought that Mr. Gitchell’s book would drive more people into 
infidelity than Col. Ingersoll’s book would, so I concluded to answer the 
minister. And — 

First, I will try to show from Mr. Ingersoll’s work, how deceiving he 
is in trying to lead you into infidelity. 

Second , I will try to show from Elder Gitchell’s work, how deceivingly 
he is in trying to lead you into his belief of religion. Then I would ask you 
all, which has done the worse ? Robert Ingersoll in deceiving j r ou into his 
belief, or Parson Gitchell in deceiving you into his belief ? for both de- 
termined to win souls, regardless of falsity or truth. 

Third , I will give a mere sketch from “Benedict’s History of the 
Baptist Church,” to call your attention to the doings of the different churches 
during the dark ages. Their depredations at that time were so numerous, 
and are so well known throughout the land, that all may reflect upon those 
depredations caused by compulsory Christianity, and compare them with the 
depredations of the Jews, caused by compulsory religion in their day. Then 
I will jot down a few other things, that every reader may find something to 
think about. I will say just what I think, and ask every person to be per- 
fectly free in his thoughts. Do not bind your thoughts to mine, nor bind 
them to others, but keep your minds perfectly free. Usually what I quote 
from the writings of Ingersoll, Gitchell, and Benedict, are in italic letters. 
Then I will ask my readers to carefully study Col. Ingersoll’s works, and 
Elder Gitchell’s work, and to ask yourselves this question : Which has made 
the most infidels, Robert Ingersoll or Elder Gitchell ? 

I will also ask you to look at the few words that I quote from Mr. 
Benedict’s history, and reflect upon all the transactions you may see, from 
this or from any other source, of the different churches during the dark 
ages, and even up to this day ; then to reflect upon the doings of the Jews 
in Old Testament times, and ask yourselves again : Where has true religion 
been trampled upon the most ? The word of God by the Jews before the 
days of Jesus ? or the teachings, of Jesus since his day by our different 
churches ? Please ask yourselves which has done the most tramping on 
the truth, the Jews, that called themselves Israelites, whose history is re- 
corded in the Old Testament, or the dissemblers that claimed to be Chris- 
tians. And finally ask yourselves, Can we do away with God’s word, and 
live according to the teachings of Jesus ? C. H. S. 


CONTENTS 




CHAPTER I. 

VARIOUS QUESTIONS UNANSWERED. 

Here are a number of questions that I cannot answer, but I will give my view 
as a temporary answer ; then I will ask each reader to form an opinion of 
his own, and let that be his answer 9 


CHAPTER II. 

FRAILTY OF BIBLE WRITERS. 

I have two books handed me that touch the frailty of our Bible writers ; for that 
reason I handle this subject. My object in considering this frailty is to pre- 
pare the minds of my readers, that they may better understand the inconsist- 
encies of the writers of those books, now in my possession 36 

CHAPTER III. 

EXTRACTS FROM 1 ‘ INGERSOLL’S MISTAKES,” WITH COMMENTS THEREON. 

I will merely glance at Col. Ingersoll’s lectures, just enough to show how ex- 
tremely he exaggerates in order to win converts, or money, or both 39 


CHAPTER IV. 

SPRINKLING OR IMMERSION. 

Brother W., one of our leaders, once asked me to give my opinion of sprink- 
ling for baptism. As I began to search the Bible on sprinkling and immer- 
sion, I found many who objected to my going to the Old Testament on this 
question. But we will examine a few passages of scripture, both from the 
Old and the New Testaments. We will make this examination before taking 
up Elder Gitchell’s tract, in order to prepare our minds, so that we may 
the better understand ourselves as we pass through his work 53 

[Vi] 


CONTENTS. 


vii 


CHAPTER V. 

THE SEVENTH-DAY SABBATH. 

Extracts from a statement made by C. S. Gitchell, a minister of the gospel. 

In examining this tract we find that Elder Gitchell has exaggerated quite 
as fully as Col. Ingersoll has, though Elder G. is a minister of the gospel, and 
is working for the cause of his own church 61 


CHAPTER VI. 

REVIEW OF ELDER GITHCHELL’S SABBATH ARGUMENTS. 

( Continued.) 

God’s covenant and our covenant — The ministration of death — The Scriptures 
perverted to sustain error 74 


CHAPTER VII. 


gitchell’s sabbath arguments. 

( Continued.) 

God’s character — The two covenants — The Christian Sabbath — Danger of 
extremes 84 


CHAPTER VIII. 

PENTECOST, LORD’S DAY, AND OTHER MATTERS. 


Different ways of counting — A farewell meeting — The Sabbath considered 
historically — The passover 98 


CHAPTER IX. 

PENTECOST AND KINDRED TOPICS. 

( Continued.) 

Time of Pentecost computed — Sabbath observance and the Book of Acts — 
The covenant question — Meaning of the word “fulfil ’’ — God’s everlasting 
sign 


viii 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER X. 

LET ONE HAND WASH THE OTHER. 

There is another thing which I would like to put before the minds of my 
readers, which I think helps to drive the reasoning thinker into infidelity. 

I do not say that this causes any person to become an infidel ; but I believe it 
helps the infidelic cause along. So it is given to the reader, and let every one 
form his own opinion 131 


CHAPTER XI. 

THINGS FOUND IN THE BIBLE. 

In this chapter your attention is called to the things that I have found by study- 
ing the Bible. I shall not ask you to believe them because I have found them 
so, but study for yourselves, and if you find things different from what I 
have stated, please excuse my human frailty 135 


CHAPTER XII. 

THE MOTHER’S POWER. 

I will now say a few words to the mothers, and to the girls that may be 
mothers. This is the most important chapter that there is in this book. 

As the woman was the first to lead into sin, so she must be the first to lead 
out of sin 141 


CHAPTER XIII. 

i 

children’s thoughts. 

I will put down a few things for the little people. Many older ones may like to 
reflect upon them ; but I will give them to the little people. And so will date 
this chapter, Dec. 25, 1895, Anno Domini, and begin it by wishing the little 
folks “ A Merry Christmas ! ” 145 


HOW ARE WE LED? 


CHAPTER I. 

VARIOUS QUESTIONS UNANSWERED. 

Here I have some questions that I cannot answer ; but I will give my idea as a 

temporary answer ; then I will ask each reader to form an idea of his own, and 

let that be the answer. 

To begin this book, I will ask a number of questions to which I cannot 
give an answer, but I will give my idea of each, and that will pass for an an- 
swer. Then I will ask each reader to form his own idea, and that will be his 
answer. My object in asking those questions is, that I may give my ideas 
to my readers ; then they can better understand my meaning as we pass 
through this book. 

Question. What is God? 

Answer. God is a great mind, possessed of great freedom ; great knowl- 
edge ; great understanding ; great judgment ; great ingenuity ; great love ; 
and perfect purity. 

Ques. What is Satan ? 

Ans. As there can be nothing in this world except it meets with more or 
less antagonism, I therefore place Satan as a great mind in opposition ct> 
God, — ■ sly, creeping, hateful, and irredeemably fallen and polluted. 

Ques. What is man ? 

Ans. At the creation God engraved many bodies of flesh, blood, and 
bone, and placed them on this earth ; after which he created a number of 
inferior minds, and placed them in a number of those graven images, and 
said, These are the beasts of the field. Again he created other of those 
inferior minds, and placed them in other of those graven images, and 
said, These are the fowls of the air. And again other of those inferior 
minds created he, and placed them in other of those graven images and 
said, These are the creeping things of the earth. But last of all God 
said, Let us create man in our own image. If God is a great mind he 
created man a great mind, not so great a mind as the mind of God ; but in 
comparison with those inferior minds, man is a great mind. If God is 
possessed of freedom of mind, he created man in that freedom of mind ; if 
God is possessed of great judgment, he created man in his image also of 
love, purity, and unity ; and in fact created he man in all kinds of godliness, 
in the image of God. God placed him in the graven image that he had created 
for man to dwell in and said, This is man ; and he shall have dominion over 
all my creation. 

Ques. Is man the same to-day as at creation ? 


[ 9 ] 


10 


HOW ARE WE LED? 


Ans. God created man a great mind of purity, love, and unity ; but 
Satan crept slyly in, and changed love to hatred, changed unity to separa- 
tion, and purity to pollution. No ; man is not as he was at the creation ; 
man was created in the image of God, but we are constantly drifting into 
the image of Satan. 

Ques. What is this mortal body ? 

Ans. This mortal body is the graven image that God created for man 
to dwell in. Jesus called it the temple, that would be destroyed and be 
raised again on the third day. This mortal body is the grave that God will 
call every man out of, whether (spiritually) dead or alive. 

Ques. What is death ? 

Ans. Death is separation. 

Ques. What is mortal death ? 

Ans. Mortal death is the separation of the breath, the spirit, the vital 
motion from the body. 

Ques. How many kinds of death are there ? 

Ans. There is mortal death, first spiritual death, great spiritual death, 
and in fact anything that is subject to separation is subject to death. 

Ques. What is first death ? 

Ans. First death is the separation of the mind from godliness. 

Ques. What is the great death ? 

Ans. The great death is the separation of the spirit from the talent, 
from godliness, from God forever. 

Ques. What is the difference between first death and the great death ? 

Ans. First death is the separation of the spirit from godliness whilst 
here in this mortal body, and is subject to repentance, restoration, or resur- 
rection. The great death is the separation of the same mind, the same 
spirit, from the talent, or from godliness, at the close of this mortal life, 
when the last chance for repentance is passed, the last hope of ever return- 
ing to God is gone. First death is subject to repentance, but the great 
death is final, and forever. 

Ques. When is the day of the great death ? 

Ans. Yesterday was the day of the great death for some poor sinner ; 
yesterday some poor sinner was called upon for the talent that he has kept 
hid ; yesterday was the day that he said, Here, Lord, is thy talent, I have 
kept it hid ; yesterday was the day that that talent was separated from 
that spirit, that made the great separation, the great death, for that poor 
sinner. To-day is the day of the great death for some other poor sinner. Some 
other poor sinner was called upon to-day for the talent that he had kept hid ; 
to-day is the day that the last hope of ever repenting is separated from that 
mind, which seals that fate forever. To-morrow will be the day of the great 
death for some other poor sinner. Some other poor sinner will be called 
upon to-morrow for the talent that Christ gives to every human being. To- 
morrow will separate the last chance of ever repenting and returning to God ; 
and that separation will be final and forever, with no resurrection thereafter. 

Ques. What is resurrection ? 

Ans. Resurrection is restoration, returning back. 


VARIOUS QUESTIONS UNANSWERED. 


11 


Ques. What is mortal resurrection ? 

Ans. We sometimes see the breath, the spirit, and vitality separated 
from the mortal body ; the body pronounced dead and prepared for burial ; 
afterward vitality returns to the body, and the body is nursed and restored 
to health. This restoration is mortal resurrection. 

Ques. How many kinds of resurrection are there ? 

Ans. There is mortal resurrection, first spiritual resurrection, and the 
great spiritual resurrection ; and in fact anything that may be separated and 
is subject to restoration and reuniting, is subject to resurrection. 

Ques. What is first resurrection ? 

Ans. First resurrection is the restoration of the mind to godliness, 
whilst the mind is yet in this mortal body and governed by human frailty. 

Ques. What is the great resurrection ? 

Ans. The great resurrection is the restoration of the mind to God who 
gave it. 

Ques. What is the difference between first resurrection and the great 
resurrection? 

Ans. First resurrection is not permanent ; it is subject to human frailty, 
subject to backsliding. The great resurrection is final ; it takes place after 
human frailty has lost all power, after the last chance for backsliding 
is gone. 

Ques. When is the day of the great resurrection ? 

Ans. Yesterday was the day of the great resurrection to some true 
Christian ; yesterday was the day that some true Christian was called upon 
for his talent, and said, Here, Lord, is thy talent ; I have improved it and 
gained many more talents ; yesterday was the day that Christ said to that 
true Christian, Well done, good and faithful servant, enter my kingdom. 
To-day is the day of the great resurrection for some other true Christian ; 
to-day is the day that Christ calls on some other true Christian, who says, 
Here, Lord, is thy talent ; I have impoved it, I have gained many talents. 
To-day is the day that Christ says to that true Christian, Well done, thou 
faithful servant, I will make you captain over many. To-morrow will be 
the day of the great resurrection for some other true Christian. Some true 
Christian will be called from this mortal body to-morrow to enter into that 
eternal life. 

Dear reader, every day in the year brings the day of the great death or 
the day of the great resurrection to some person. Some one that is consider- 
ing those very questions to-day, may be called on to-morrow for the talent 
that Christ has given him ; or it may be fifty years before you are called 
upon for that talent. But it will be called for ; that great day will come to 
one and all. No living soul can miss it. The great day is coming ; are 
you ready ? 

Ques. What is that eternal life ? 

Ans. Let me ask, who created this earth ? You say, some great being 
whom we cannot see. Where is that being ? You say, on some other 
planet. Who created that planet ? Some other great being ; and where is. 
he ? Dear readers, we must admit that there is some great mind that created 


12 


HOW ARE WE LED « 


those planets ; some great mind that rests not on the face of any planet. A 
great mind possessed of great judgment, great ingenuity, and great power ; 
a mind that was before the creation of any planet, and before the creation 
of this earth ; a mind that is in existence still to-day, and will be in exist- 
ence after this earth is passed and gone. 

I find in the books of the Apocrypha a kind of bible outside of the He- 
brew nation. Our preachers tell us that before the days of Jesus there was 
no religion outside of the Hebrew nation ; but I say that every nation kept 
its own records, and that Jesus was born into the Hebrew records, therefore 
we have the Hebrew records, and none but the Hebrew records in our relig- 
ion. But I find wise men and religious men outside of the Hebrew nation ; 
and in the books of the Apocrypha we find three wise men questioning. 

The first asked, What is the strongest thing in the world ? None could 
answer, save himself. He said that wine was the strongest thing in the 
world ; it could overpower all men, all nations, and all people, and cause 
them to do many things. The second said, With wine we must exercise our 
strength to accomplish our deeds. What is stronger than wine ? And this 
answer was left to the questioner. He said the king’s word was stronger 
than wine. The king could sit on his throne, and give his word, and with- 
out lifting a finger all would be done. The third asked, What is stronger 
than the king’s word ? This answer was also left to the questioner, and he 
said, The kind embrace of a woman is stronger than a king’s word. A king 
will sit on his throne and give his command, and with a kind embrace a 
woman will request him and all will be changed, and new commands given. 
With those men it was thought that the strongest thing in the world was the 
kind embrace of a woman. I myself say that a woman can accomplish far 
more with a kind embrace than she can by constantly dealing out hell-fire. 

Dear readers, let me ask, what is the strongest thing in the world ? 
What sent the locomotive from gulf to gulf ? What sent the steamer to 
plow the great waters ? What sent man’s word with lightning speed, un- 
der the waters from America to Europe ? It was the thing that God created 
in his own image. A great mind, a mind possessed of great power, great 
judgment, great ingenuity ; and is it not in the image of God, an everlast- 
ing mind ? If God is an everlasting mind, and if man is in his image, is 
not man an everlasting mind ? If man repents, comes back, and unites 
with godliness, and passes into eternity in that unity, is not that unity ever- 
lasting ? If separation is death, and unity is life, is not that life an ever- 
lasting life ? I say that the uniting of man’s mind with godliness, through 
this world and into eternity, is the eternal life. 

Ques. What is the difference of name between this mortal body and the 
spirit ? 

Ans. With us we make no difference, we call the mortal body man. 
But if we see one with a mean, haughty, overbearing mind, we call him a 
mean man. If we find one with a pleasant, quiet, kind mind, we call him a 
good man, whilst the flesh, blood, and bone, is just the same as all other 
flesh and bone. We call it all man ; but God the spirit, talks to man the 
spirit, and about man the spirit, and talks to him spiritually. He talks 


VARIOUS QUESTIONS UNANSWERED. 


13 


about the body, the graven image for man to dwell in ; the temple that 
Jesus said would be destroyed, and be raised again on the third day, 
the grave that all men should be called out of, whether (spiritually) 
dead or alive with God. God calls the spirit man, but we call the flesh 
man. The physician may separate the spirit from the body, and the body 
realizes no more feeling than the tree that has no mind, but will sit and 
laugh whilst the physician dissects an eye or extracts a tooth. The mes- 
merizer may give you his mind, and you will scream and cry all sorts of 
murder, when there is nothing touching the body. The spirit is man. 

Ques. What is the talent that you said Christ gives us ? 

Ans. The talent is the nature of love for godliness, that Christ imprints 
in every human heart, though this nature is often choked down and kept 
hidden. 

Ques. How does Christ imprint this nature in the heart ? 

Ans. By sowing the seed of righteousness, which he said was smaller 
than a grain of mustard seed ; it is invisible- to the human eye. 

Ques . What is this seed ? 

Ans. It is the seed that Christ sows on all kinds of ground, which 
brings forth the talent, which if rightly cultivated, brings forth the tree of 
life that will yield fruit abundantly. Jesus said some of this seed fell by 
the wayside and the fowls of the air picked it up, other fell upon foul 
ground, and the thorn and the tare sprang up and choked it ; other fell upon 
good ground and sprang up and brought forth fruit abundantly. 

Ques. How shall this talent be cultivated ? 

Ans. Just as you would cultivate corn, by rooting out the tare and the 
thorn whilst it is yet small. Mothers should root out the tare and the thorn 
as soon as the infant begins to creep, and mothers should keep them rooted 
out until the talent is grown. Mothers will not hurt the flesh of their dear 
little infants, but they permit the spirit to suffer all sorts of harm. The 
spirit of the infant should be more dear to the mother than the flesh or the 
bone should be. 

Ques. What is the foul ground upon which this righteous seed was 
sown ? 

Ans. The little infant spirit that bears the stain of Cam s birthmark, 
which is blacker than charcoal. 

Ques. What is the good ground upon which this seed was sown ? 

Ans. The little infant spirit that bears the birthmark of Jesus Christ, 
which is purer than snow. This little spirit is the good ground upon which 
this seed was sown. 

Ques. Was this seed ever sown on good ground ? 

Ans. When this seed was sown in the heart of Jesus it was sown on 
good ground. 

Ques. Was there ever a talent grown to become a tree of life, where this 
seed was sown on foul ground ? 

Ans. Many a little infant spirit has borne the stain of Cain’s birthmark, 
where the mother has repented, and has tried to live a Christian life, and 
has raised her child in true Christanity, and by so doing has grown a tree of 


14 


HOW ARE WE LED? 


life that has yielded much fruit. The mother should receive the praise 
for that. 

Ques. What is a covenant ? 

Ans. A covenant is a bargain, either written or verbal. 

Ques. How is a covenant made with God ? 

Ans. I began to study the Bible ; I found God’s word written down. I 
went to God in prayer, and I promised God that I would become his servant. 
I would obey his commands, and do his will to the best of my judgment and 
ability ; that is the way I made my covenant with God. God’s part of it is 
written down whilst my part is verbal. 

Ques. Why covenant to serve God to the best of our judgment or ability ? 
why not covenant to serve God perfectly ? 

Ans. There is no human being but what is possessed of more or less human 
frailty. I may think I am serving God all right when I am not ; or I may be 
in a position that I cannot serve God as I may think I ought ; in either of 
those cases I am not breaking my covenant, neither am I held accountable 
for so doing. But after the obstruction has been removed, or after it comes 
to my knowledge that I am wrong, if I persist in so doing, I am both break- 
ing my covenant, and am held accountable for my doings. 

Ques. What was the mark placed on Cain ? 

Ans. God is a spirit, and talks about spirits. When God created Eve, 
he created her in his own image ; a mind of purity, love, and unity. When 
Satan crept slyly in, her mind was filled with lewdness and hatred, and 
sundered from godliness. When Cain was born, his little mind was marked 
with that same lewdness and hatred, and also sundered from godliness. 
Cain’s mark was a birthmark on the mind. 

Ques. What was the garden of Eden in which Adam and Eve were 
placed ? 

Ans. The garden of Eden was a spiritual garden possessed of the 
pleasures and comforts in which a religious mind finds support, compared 
with the pleasures and comforts of an earthly garden which supports the 
mortal body. 

Ques. What was the forbidden fruit that Adam and Eve partook of ? 

Ans. The forbidden fruits are the evil thoughts upon which Satan still 
to-day is feeding the human mind. 

Ques. What were the good fruits that Adam and Eve were permitted to 
partake of ? 

Ans. The good fruits are obedience to God’s word, in which the religious 
mind still finds great support. 

Ques. What is the tree of knowledge ? 

Ans. The tree of knowledge is the thorns that Jesus told us about in 
Mark 4 : 7, when he said, “The thorns grew up and choked ” the good seed 
that ‘ ‘ it yielded no fruit.” 

Ques. When is the seed of the tree of knowledge sown ? 

Ans. If Cain’s spirit bore the birthmark that we have just been consider- 
ing, that seed must have been sown in his heart before he was born. 

Ques. How is the tree of knowledge cultivated ? 


VARIOUS QUESTIONS UNANSWERED. 15 

Ans. It needs no cultivation, it is like the thorns in our pasture, it 
grows up very high and rank before we are aware of it 

Ques. What is the tree of life ? 

Ans. The* tree of life is the religious teachings from which all those obe- 
diences and righteous fruits spring. It is a true Christian mind that ought 
to always stand ready to yield the righteous fruits to all around. 

Ques. How shall we cultivate the talent so as to grow the tree of life ? 

Ans. By keeping the commands of God. 

Ques. How shall we keep those commands ? 

Ans. According to the teachings of Jesus, as found in the first four 
books of the New Testament. Follow the example of Jesus. 

Ques. How many commandments are there ? 

Ans. By studying the twentieth chapter of Exodus, we find that God 
told us that thou shalt have no other God before me ; thou shalt make no 
graven image ; and the next two verses teach us to love our God, for he is 
showing mercy unto thousands that love him. Take not his name in vain ; 
remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy ; honor thy father and thy 
mother ; thou shalt not kill ; thou shalt not commit adultery ; thou shalt not 
steal ; thou shalt not bear false witness ; thou shalt not covet ; and adding 
to those, Jesus taught us to repent and be baptized. 

Ques. What is this baptism for ? 

Ans. Baptism is for a sign between God and his children, showing to 
the mortal eye how that when we have repented of our sins, Christ will come 
and baptize the spirit with the Holy Ghost, to wash away the sins. 

Ques. For what was the Sabbath set aside ? 

Ans. The Sabbath was also set aside for a sign between God and his 
religious people. 

Ques. Is it essential that we keep the Sabbath ? 

Ans. It is more essential that we keep the Sabbath than it is that we be 
baptized. Baptism is performed but once in a life time, and by it the 
thoughts of Christianity are never renewed again, whilst by keeping the 
Sabbath our thoughts are renewed every week of our lives. 

Ques. How shall we keep the Sabbath ? 

Ans. Jesus said, Mark 22 : 27, that ‘ 1 the Sabbath was made for man, 
not man for the Sabbath.” By this we understand there is no use in going 
to extremes, but use reason in all things ; as well the keeping of the Sabbath 
as anything else. That is, if we have any work of necessity to do, do it. 
It is unnecessary to keep the Sabbath so strict as to do a wrong to man or 
beast, but after all the necessities of life for man or beast are supplied, 
keep the balance of the day in studying godliness. The Sabbath was made 
to fit the necessities of man, not the necessities of man made to fit the 
Sabbath. 

Ques. Was Jesus Christ the Son of God ? 

Ans. God talked spiritually. When he foretold of the coming of 
Christ, he foretold of the coming of the spirit of Jesus. There will never a 
spirit come onto this earth to dwell except he dwells in the flesh of man. 


16 


HOW ABE WE LED? 


When God called Christ his beloved Son, he called the spirit of Jesus his 
beloved Son. Christ was the Son of God. 

Ques. Was Jesus the Son of God ? 

Ans. Jesus was the son of Mary, the graven image that God created for 
Christ to dwell in, the same as the graven image that he created for the 
spirit of Adam and Eve to dwell in. Jesus was the grave from whence 
God called Christ whilst yet hanging on the cross. Jesus was the body 
from which the Jews separated the breath of life, the vital motion, and all 
sensation of mortal life ; and for this separation they pronounced it dead 
and laid it in the tomb. Jesus was the temple which Christ said would be 
destroyed and raised again on the third day. Jesus was the body from which 
the mortal life and the spirit were separated, and afterward restored to 
it again, which restoration was a mortal resurrection, which showed to the 
mortal eye that the spirit must be restored to the God who gave it to make 
the great spiritual resurrection. 

Ques. Then is not every infant spirit, before it enters into first death, a 
son of God ? 

Ans. Every infant spirit that is born into this world must be a son of 
God, or a son of Satan. The infant spirit that bears Cain’s birthmark is 
the son of Satan by birth. 

Ques. Then was Christ the only son of God ? 

Ans. Christ was the only true Son of God ever recorded in our Sacred 
Records. 

Ques. How shall we love God ? 

Ans. To love God is to love to see, and to love to do all kinds of god- 
liness, in every spot or place that we may meet it ; to love God is to love 
godliness. 

Ques. Then if the infant spirit is the son of Satan by birth, how can it 
get to heaven if it is called out of this graven image before it is old enough 
to learn to love God ? 

Ans. God creates the spirit, but Satan through the mind of the mother 
places Cain’s birthmark on that little spirit, and Christ sows the seed for the 
talent. If God calls upon that little spirit for his talent, before the thorn 
or the tare have brought forth their evil fruits, he makes no separation but 
takes the spirit also. God makes no separation ; God is unity. Man must 
get old enough to make his own separation or there is no separation made. 

Ques. Could there be another person raised equally as pure in spirit as 
Jesus Christ was ? 

Ans. See Ex. 20 : 5 ; 34 : 7 ; Num. 14 : 18 ; Deut. 5 : 9. God said 
our iniquities would visit our children for three or four generations. If the 
iniquities of the mothers are inherited upon the mind of their offspring, 
the righteous cultivation of her own mind must also be inheritable. If 
mothers would try to cultivate their own mind from childhood up, constantly 
trying to live in godliness, a few generations would bring us back to that 
purity in which we were created. How often we see a child with a mild, 
gentle, kind disposition, and hear the remark made that that child is just 


VARIOUS QUESTIONS UNANSWERED. 


17 


like its mother. How often we see one with a rough and crabbed disposi- 
tion, and hear the remark made, its mother was just so when she was a girl. 

Ques. What is hell-fire ? 

Ans. Hell-fire is the cursed slander that rolls from the human tongue. 

Ques. How is hell- fire dealt out ? 

Ans. It has been said that hell-fire is rolled into the victim’s mouth by 
the demons of hell ; but I say it is not rolled into the mouth, but rolled out 
of the mouth and into the ear. 

Ques. How and where is hell-fire kindled ? 

Ans. Hell-fire is kindled on this earth, and by the human tongue. 
James 3 : 5. “How great a matter a little fire kindleth.” Verse 6. “The 
tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity . . . and setteth on fire the course of 
nature ; and it is set on fire of hell.” The bad ideas that are brought to 
the mind of the mother, by words that have fallen from some human 
tongue, do not only stain the character of the mother, but are often inherited 
by her offspring. 

Ques. How long will this hell-fire last ? 

Ans . As a tree groweth so it must stand ; it cannot change its shape 
only to grow larger. If man is in the image of God he must be everlasting. 
If he grows his mind in hell-fire and torment without change in this life, all 
the change that he can expect in the life to come is to grow larger. 

Ques. How can we quench this hell-fire ? 

Ans. By bridling our own tongue, and unheeding the angry and idle 
words of others. 

Ques. Why should we bridle our own tongue ? 

Ans. Can any human being have a mind that is whiter than snow, when 
they know that their own tongue is dealing out eternal torts and torments to 
others ? We may not particularly harm the one we are talking to, yet harm 
will grow out of it. We set an example before the listeners that will create 
a wrong elsewhere. It is better that we omit speaking the truth about 
others, rather than to say one word falsely. 

Ques. Why think that those torts and torments are everlasting ? why 
not think that they are only momentary ? 

Ans. Because the evils that are spoken about others never cease to 
grow ; they are the thorns and tares that grow up and choke the talent ; 
but it is hard for the good words that you may speak of others to grow up 
and choke the thorns or the tares. 

Ques. Can we wash away the torts of hell-fire after hell-fire is once 
kindled ? 

Ans. We can repent of what we have said or done, and forgive others 
for what they have said or done ; but the stain that we have imprinted upon 
the human mind we cannot wash away. 

After the printers had agreed with me to do my printing, and had 
received the money for so doing, they hesitated, and asked me if some 
of my work could not be toned down, or left out. The foreman pointed out 
the things which he suggests to be changed. Instead of changing or leaving 

2 


18 


HOW ARE WE LED? 


any out, 1 will show these points to the world, asking my readers to look at 
his side first, then to look at my side and judge for themselves. 

I show his suggestions as he made them to me. 

First, he says, ‘ ‘ I notice that you bring into your book your domestic 
and family matters. It looks to me like revenge for you to speak as you do 
of your wife. The apostle tells us that ‘ vengeance belongs unto Grod 7 alone. 

‘ If a man faints in the day of adversity, his strength is small, ’ says the 
Wise Man. I think some of these things should be toned down or left out 
entirely. ” 

To this remark let me say, that I am perfectly free from malice or 
revenge ; I hold no malice toward any person. But I want to show to the 
mothers, First, That the husband is the provider of the necessities of the 
home, and if he is the provider, he ought to have some say about those pro- 
visions. Second, That woman’s control over hell-fire at home is far ahead of 
that of man ; and that she kindles the most of this fire that is burning in the 
home circle. Third, That when a man makes mistakes or blunders, that he 
generally loses money by it ; and he feels annoyed enough over his loss 
without taking “a blessing ” for it, and such a blessing would not make the 
matter any better, neither does it make the husband enjoy the home enter- 
tainment any better, neither is it Christianity or happiness for the wife. It 
is an old saying that ‘ ‘ two heads are better than one, if one is a sheep’s 
head. ” This is true if the two heads work together in unity, but I say that 
even the sheep’s head is better alone, if the other is continually finding fault. 

Men, women, and children have got it into their heads that the women 
are too delicate to have even the truth spoken about them. But I say there 
is no harm in showing the women wherein they obstruct the Christian life. 
If a couple are to marry with the understanding that the woman shall be 
sole provider of the necessities of life, and the man shall only act as agent 
in her business, then they can live under her rulings in unity. But if man 
is to be the sole provider, if the woman wants to live the Christian life, she 
should be willing for him to use his own judgment. Fourth and mainly I 
want to say that Col Ingersoll denied the words of Jesus wherein Jesus 
said, ‘ ‘ He that leaveth home and friends for my sake shall have eternal 
life.” I want to say that when a person cannot live a Christian life at home, 
let him leave home and go where he can live a Christian life. I wish to 
show to Col. Ingersoll that that was the person that Jesus was talking to. 

Now let me ask, How can I give those things for positive facts, unless I 
show that I have had some acquaintance with the life of women ? Let me 
say that the woman that is already in the right path will be left in the right 
path after reading my book. 

The printer’s second remark is, “One thing I greatly regret in your 
pamphlet : you seem to speak in a quite common, irreverent way of the Lord. ” 

To this let me reply, I am not Christ ; neither can I explain my mean- 
ings equal to Jesus. He explained many things in parable ; I cannot 
explain in parable, neither can I explain my views on the teachings of 
Jesus, except I am permitted to give it just as I see it. Therefore I shall 
say that Jesus was the greatest teacher ever on earth, or at least ever 


VARIOUS QUESTIONS UNANSWERED. 19 

recorded in our earthly records ; and he taught us that we should not go to 
extremes in any thing. 

“ Thou shalt have no other gods before me.” Now if God ever inspired 
words into the mouth of man, he inspired those words into the mouth of 
Moses ; and Moses gave them to us representing God’s will as nearly as his 
human frailty would permit. 

‘ 1 Thou shalt have no other gods before me. ’* Let us obey God’s com- 
mand, and not w r orship man in preference to God. If God created Jesus 
without the aid of man, he did no greater miracle than he did when he 
created Adam and Eve, and it was just as easy for God to create Jesus with- 
out the aid of man, as it was for him to create Adam and Eve. If God 
created Jesus without the aid of man, it was not Jesus that did the miracle, 
but God ; and we should worship God for it. But when Jesus took on the 
full spirit of Christ, which was the true and living God under the new name, 
it was then that Jesus did a miracle, and for that he should receive praise. 
But do n’t let us go to extremes and worship man before God. The flesh and 
bone of Jesus was no more than the flesh and bone of other men, and for 
proof of this I take the words of Jesus. Matt. 11 :11. “ Among them 

that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist. ” 
Jesus was born of woman, but Christ came from God. And Christ was 
much greater than the spirit of John. Let us worship Christ, who is the 
true and living God, under the new name ; but do n’t let us worship man. 
Let us take on this very same Christ, as Jesus did, as far as our human 
frailty will permit, and so become true Christians. 

Third. “ You speak of Jesus cleansing the foulness of Moses’ writings. 
Are you not laboring under a great error there ? ” 

I have said that Jesus greatly magnified the religious teachings of 
Moses ; I still say so. Moses’ religion was wholly contained in the com- 
mandments given on Mount Sinai. What were Jesus’ teachings in regard 
to those commandments ? What did Jesus teach us more than those com- 
mandments ? Moses taught his subjects that they were bred, born, and 
raised in religion, and must be compelled by human force to be religious. 
This was not religious teachings, and Jesus did not magnify it but 
condemned it. How many of our churches to-day teach us the very same 
thing ? This with many other such, and much foulness, and many national 
laws were put into the Hebrew teachings, but Jesus did not magnify 
them. Jesus taught us that we must repent of our sins and so become 
religious. 

Our preachers tell us that nine of the commandments given on Mount 
Sinai are moral precepts, and that Jesus highly commended them, whilst 
the keeping of the Sabbath was not a moral precept, and that Jesus cast it 
aside. Many of our brethren repeat this as being a fact. Let us search the 
first four books of the New Testament for the teachings of Jesus, taking 
the commandments as they were given. 1 ‘ Thou shalt have no other gods 
before me.” Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John are perfectly silent as to this 
command. “Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image.” Jesus 
passed this command also in silence. ‘ ‘ Thou shalt not take the name of 


20 


HOW ARE WE LED? 


the Lord thy God in vain.” To this Jesus replied in Matt. 5 : 33, “ Ye have 
heard ... by them of old time, Thou shalt not forswear thyself, but shalt 
perform unto the Lord thine oaths.” Yer. 34. “But I say unto you, 
swear not at all; neither by heaven; for it is God’s throne.” Yer. 35. 
“ Not by the earth ; for it is his footstool : neither by Jerusalem ; for it is 
the city of the great King.” Ver. 46. “Neither shalt thou swear by thy 
head, because thou canst not make one hair white or black.” Yer. 37. 
“But let your communication be, Yea, yea ; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is 
more than these cometh of evil.” Verses 15, 19. “For out of the heart 
proceed evil thoughts, . . . blasphemies.” 

Matthew tells us that Jesus spoke enough about swearing to show us 
that we should obey the command. Mark, Luke, and John are silent. 

“ Honor thy father and thy mother.” To this Jesus said, Matt. 15 : 3, 
“Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition ? ” 
Ver. 4. “ For God commanded, saying, Honor thy father and mother, and 

He that curseth father or mother, let him die the death.” Ver. 5. “ But 

ye say, Whosoever shall say to his father or to his mother, it is a gift.” Yer. 
6. “ And honor not his father and his mother, he shall be free.” Mark 

7 :10, 11, gives the same. 

“Thou shalt not kill.’ To this Jesus said, Matt. 5 : 21. “Ye have heard 
that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill ; and whosoever 
shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment. ” Ver. 22. “But I say unto 
you, that whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in 
danger of the judgment. ” Chap. 15 : 19. “For out of the heart proceed 
evil thoughts, murders,” etc., etc. 

The next command that we find is, “Thou shalt not commit adultery.” 
To this Jesus says, Matt. 5 : 27, “Ye have heard that it was said by them 
of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery. ” Yer. 28. “ But I say unto 

you, that whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed 
adultery with her alreadj" in his heart.” Yer. 32. “But I say unto you, 
that whosoever shall put away his wife, . . . causeth her to commit 
adultery ; and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced committeth 
adultery.” Luke 16 :18. “Whosoever putteth away his wife, and mar- 
rieth another, committeth adultery, and whosoever marrieth her . . . com- 
mitteth adultery.” 

Then we turn to the next: “Thou shalt not steal.” We find this one 
lightly spoken of in Matt. 15:19, “For out of the heart proceed evil 
thoughts, . . . thefts,” etc., etc. Then we turn to the last of the com- 
mandments, “Thou shalt not covet,” and all that we can find is, “Out of 
the heart proceed evil thoughts, . . . covetousness,” etc., etc. Mark 7 : 21, 
22. This is all that Jesus said about covetousness. 

Now we have thoroughly examined the brethren’s nine moral precepts, 
and we find that Jesus slightly touched six of them. Another, “Thou 
shalt not covet anything that belongs to others.” In speaking of the evils 
that come from the heart, we find this recorded once, and only once, in the 
records of Jesus. Now we turn to the Sabbath day and see what Jesus says 
about that. He says in Matt. 12 : 8, “ The Son of man is Lord of the Sab- 


VARIOUS QUESTIONS UNANSWERED. 


01 


bath day. ” Does this say aught against the Sabbath ? The sinner may 
work on the Sabbath day, and regard it not, or the righteous may do the 
things that are of real necessity, things of charity, of necessity for their 
neighbors, then keep the balance of the day sacred ; and those that 
have no necessities to do shall keep the whole day sacred. In fact he tells 
us that the Sabbath was made to fit the man, and not man made to fit the 
Sabbath, by going to extremes as the Jews were keeping it. Is this saying 
aught against this command ? 

Luke 13 : 16. “Ought not this woman, being . . . whom Satan hath 
bound, lo, eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath day ? ” 
Again in Matt. 12 : 10, they asked him, saying, “Is it lawful to heal on 
the Sabbath days ? ” Verses 11, 12. “And he said, It is lawful to do well 
on the Sabbath days.” John 7 : 21. “Jesus . . . said . . . I have done 
one work, and ye all marvel.” Ver. 22. “Moses . . . gave . . . you 
circumcision . . . and ye on the Sabbath day circumcise a man.” Ver. 23. 
“ If a man on the Sabbath day receives circumcision . . . are ye angry at 
me, because I have made a man every whit whole on the Sabbath day ? ” 

Now we find that Jesus has spoken more of the Sabbath, and more in 
favor of keeping that command, than of the brethren’s nine moral precepts ; 
and then to top off with he tells them in Matt. 24 : 20, “ Pray ye that your 
flight be not ... on the Sabbath day.” This remark alone is more than he 
spoke of any one command. Then he says in John 7 : 19, “ Did not Moses 
give you the law, and yet none of you keep the law? Matt. 19 : 16-18, 
Mark 10 : 17-19, and Luke 18 : 18-20, tell us that he taught us to keep the 
law ; and on being asked which was the law, he names over a part of the 
commandments given on Mount Sinai, — enough to show that those command 
ments are the law that he said to keep. 

He tells us in Matt. 5 : 17, “ Think not that I am come to destroy the 
law or the prophets : I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.” He came to 
set the example before us, and show us how we should fulfil this law. In 
verse 18 he tells us, “Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall 
in no wise pass from the law till all be fulfilled. ” 

Brethren, let us try to follow the example of Jesus, and so fulfil the law. 

He says in verse 19, “Whosoever therefore shall break one of these 
least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in 
the kingdom of heaven.” Where are those who teach us that this law i* 
broken ? Chap. 10 : 37, “He that loveth son or daughter more than me h 
not worthy of me.” That is to say, those persons who love their children 
better than godliness, those persons love their children so well that they 
will not train their children, will not try to raise their children up in godli- 
ness, is not worthy of Christ. 

In speaking of loving himself, he does not mean love his flesh and bone, 
as we love one another. The flesh and bone of Jesus was no better than the 
flesh and bone of others. For proof of this I take his own word. Matt. 11 : 
11, “ Verily I say unto you, Among them that are born of woman there hath 
not risen a greater than John the Baptist.” He says woman, and his mother 
was a woman. We know that the spirit of Jesus was greater than the spirit 


22 


HOW ARE WE LED? 


of John. Chap. 15:9, “But in vain they worship me, teaching for 
doctrines the commandments of men.” The commandments of men, are 
that we fall down and worship man ; the flesh and bone of Jesus. “ Thou 
shalt (worship) no other gods before me.” In Matt. 19 : 16-18, he tells us 
to live up to the law. 

Let me now ask, What did Jesus command us to do that was not intro- 
duced before him ? “ Repent and be baptized.” Matt. 3 : 1. “In those 

days came John the Baptist preaching . . . Yer. 2. “And saying, Repent 
ye : for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. ’’ Jesus was not the first to 
preach repentance. As for baptism, that was practiced in Moses’s time. 
Lev. 17 : 16, “But if he wash them not, nor bathe his flesh ; then he shall 
bear his iniquity.” “ Love the Lord thy Cod with all thy might, mind and 
strength and thy neighbor as thyself. ” Let us see what Cod said about this 
love, when he gave the commandments on Mount Sinai. Ex. 20 : 6. 
“ Showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my com- 
mandments.” To love Cod, was required before Jesus commanded it. 
Deut. 10:18. Cod “ love th the stranger. ” Yer. 19. “ Love ye therefore 

the stranger.” Chap. 10 : 12. “What does the Lord thy Cod require of 
thee ... to love him.” 

Now I leave it to the judgment of every reader, did Jesus teach us any- 
thing that was not taught before him, except to be moderate in all things ; 
not to go to extremes in anything ; to compel no person to experience 
religion, but to let every one act upon his own free will ? I must again say 
that Jesus greatly magnified the religious teachings of Moses. Moses gave 
us religious commands without explanations, and Jesus greatly explained 
all things. 

The printer’s fourth remark is, “Poor Elder Citchell ! You score him 
fearfully. But I am afraid that not all your arguments will stand the 
crucial test. You virtually take the position that the punctuation of the 
Bible is inspired, which is a great mistake. ” 

To this, dear readers, let me say, that if Cod inspired the words of the 
Bible, he inspired the meaning of those words. If different punctuation 
gives to the words different meanings, God inspired the correct punctuation 
to give his correct meaning, at least Jesus said, ‘ ‘ One jot or one tittle shall 
in no wise pass from the law.” Dear readers, he does not, and he cannot 
dispute one word of my writing ; but he says he is afraid ‘ ‘ it will not stand 
the crucial test,” that is, the test of the revisions. 

Dear readers we must live a religious life according to the Bible that is 
before us. We cannot study the Bible that we now have and live a 
religious life in accordance with some other Bible of hundreds of years 
ago, in some other language, or some other revision. Neither can we 
study the Bible that is now before us, and live religion in accordance to 
some Bible hundreds of years hence, after they have been revised a number 
of times. But if we live religion in accordance with the Bible, we must 
take the Bible as it now stands before us. If the revisers change dot, 
tittle, word, or law, and teach men so, Jesus says, they shall be counted 
least in the kingdom of heaven.” 


VARIOUS QUESTIONS UNANSWERED. 


23 


Fifth, the printer remarks, “You hit Col. Ingersoll some hard raps, and 
justly too ; but when you charge him with deceiving the people to make 
money , it seems to me that you are wrong.” 

To this I say, Col. Ingersoll is no more deserving of my hard raps than 
Elder Gitchell , or any other preacher that will change the words of the Scrip- 
ture, even verbally , in or out of the pulpit , to carry their points. Of course I 
know not the Colonel’s mind ; I do not believe him to be an infidel for the 
sake of money ; but take away his doortenders, and let his listeners go in 
free, and see how long he will hold lectures for the sake of those he is not 
personally interested in. 

Sixth, he says, “ Your criticism on Jesus will not bear the test. In Heb. 
4:8, the margin gives the true idea, where it says, Joshua . It is the same 
Jesus mentioned in Acts 7 : 45. In the book of Joshua, in the Septuagint 
version of the Greek, more than fifty times Joshua is called Jesous= Jesus.” 

Dear readers, we are not living under the Septuagint version of the Greek 
Bible; we must live under a Bible that we can see and read. And if it 
comes to a fact that there are two different men spoken of in the New Testa- 
ment, that are called Jesus, without any designation betwixt them, we must 
say that God’s word was written by men possessed of human frailty. Be- 
sides this, I must say that the wisdom of Jesus, that I have treated on 
farther back in this book, is not found anywhere in our Bible, neither in a 
Greek version of our Bible. This Jesus was found entirely outside of the 
Hebrew nation, and his writings are entirely outside of our Hebrew Bible. 
This man’s name was Jesus, and his grandfather’s name was Jesus. It can- 
not be possible that Joshua was driven out of the Hebrew nation, and took 
on the name of Jesus, and filled the place of both grandfather and grandson. 
Beside this, the days of Joshua were 1400 years before Julius Caesar 
changed our time. The days of David were 1000 years before this change. 
The printer tells me that Joshua was driven out and remained out until 
David’s time, and the da} r s of this Jesus were 200 years before this change, 
whilst the days of Jesus Christ were at, and after, this change of 
Caesar’s year. 

The printer stated that my argument would not stand the crucial test on 
two points ; first, “ That by some, Joshua had been called Jesus : ” To this 
I find a space of near 1200 years between the days of Joshua and the days 
of this Jesus of whom I have written. Second, that “You [I] have taken 
the position that the punctation was inspired.” To this I find that Jesus 
said not one jot or tittle should be taken from the law, whether inspired or 
not. Then we find that no man is perfect, therefore I am not perfect, 
neither is my book perfect ; and for that reason I again ask each of my 
readers to read the Bible and to judge for themselves. 

Seventh and last, the editor said, “Probably I have been misunder- 
stood. ” I cannot answer this better than to relate a story of an old Quaker 
and a dog. The Quaker’s religion would not permit him to hurt anything, 
but on getting mad at his neighbor’s dog he said; I ’ll not hurt thee ; no I ’ll 
not harm a hair of thy back ; but I ’ll give thee a bad name. And on seeing 
some hunters a short distance away the Quaker cries, “ Maddog ! maddog ! ” 


24 


HOW ARE WE LED? 


and the hunters not stopping to ascertain whether the dog was really mad 
or not, immediately shot and killed him. 

I think this is the case with me. As soon as I espoused the cause of 
Christ, neighbors and even preachers, did not stop to ascertain whether I 
was right or wrong, but all at once misunderstood me. This is practiced 
too much in the human race. This is what crucified Jesus Christ. 


SUPPLEMENT TO CHAPTER ONE. 

When I began to live a Christian life, I felt that Christ was trying to 
sow the word of God in my heart ; but as Jesus said in Mark 4 : 14, 15, 
“ The sower soweth the word ; but when they have heard, Satan came im- 
mediately, and taketh away the word that was sown in their hearts.” I felt 
as though Satan was trying to take away the word as fast as it was sown in 
my heart. 

I met with my brethren each week at class-meeting, and there I would 
tell my views on different points of the Bible ; but the brethren would 
object to my statements. I felt that I had the same right to my views that 
others had to theirs, and the same right to express my ideas that others had 
to express theirs, and that the listeners had a perfect right to judge for 
themselves which was right. Here I could see that Satan was trying to take 
it from me as fast as Christ sowed the word in my heart. I found that 
Satan did not only work in the mind of the sinners, but would also put it in 
the mind of the brother Christians to object to my statements. 

After it became unpleasant for me to take part in class-meeting, I 
thought to write my views and so give them to the people ; but I found 
Satan still before me, and trying to take away the words that I felt Christ 
had sown in my heart, as fast as I could write them down. 

When I had finished writing my manuscript, I sent it to a press to be 
printed, after I had agreed with them to print for me ; but I found Satan 
awaiting me there. When they received my manuscript, it differed from 
their views, and they at once refused to print it. I thought to have my 
book printed and before my readers on the 25th day of December, 1895, or 
1900 years from the birth of Jesus ; but the printers refused to print my 
work, and held my manuscript from me for a time before I could regain it, 
or get any satisfaction for it. But during this time I wrote to five other 
firms, asking each if they would print my views on Christianity, regardless 
of disagreement with their views ; and I found only one that was ready to 
say yes, you have the same right to your views that others have to theirs. 

I of course laid this all to the works of Satan. I felt as though Satan 
was standing in front of me, determined to root out what Christ had sown in 
my heart, even though I was dealing with brother Christians. So I will 
place at the close of the first chapter some of the correspondence that 
passed between me and the firm that had my manuscript, and ask my 
readers to judge for themselves on what I have laid to the works of Satan. 


SUPPLEMENT TO CHAPTER ONE. 


25 


Following those letters I will give a little more of my ideas on true Chris- 
tianity before entering into the second chapter of my work. 


Aug. 29, 1895. 

Mr. C. H. Sanders. 

Dear Sir : In reply to your card of the 25th mst. we are obliged to say that it 
would not be profitable for either you or us to publish such a work as you suggest. 

Very truly yours, 


Here I have dropped in a letter from another firm, and they tell me that 
such work as I suggest publishing would not be profitable. 

Dear readers, they do not know one thing about my manuscript, only 
that I asked them if they would print it regardless of disagreement in belief. 
Now if I disagree from their belief, they say it is not profitable to print it. 

Now I do not ask any person to think as I think because I think so, but 
I believe it the duty of every human being to read and think for himself. 
And if my ignorant expressions will elicit any true light on Christianity, it 
is my duty to express my thoughts. I would be glad if I was perfect 
enough to do my work right, but as I am not, I do the best that I can. But 
let me say here, that I do not believe that we have got to put on our best 
clothes, attend the church regularly, and believe every word that the preacher 
says, whether it is so or not, to be a Christian ; but I believe in trying to 
live a Christian life at home ; and the way to live a Christian life at home, 
is to overlook our companion’s faults, cultivate the use of patience, and 
deal out as little hell-fire as possible. 

Here is another note regarding my manuscript : — 


Aug. 22, 1895. 

Mr. Chas. Sanders , Lowell , Ind. 

Dear Brother: The manuscript you sent here was placed in my hands for 
examination. I have examined your manuscript, reading quite a considerable 
portion thereof, and have placed it before a committee which has given it consider- 
ation. Their unanimous opinion is that you might far better spend your time and 
means in some other way than attempting to write for the press. We are sure that 
your manuscript is not prepared in such a way as to be suitable for publication. 
We do not question the sincerity of your motives and effort in doing as you have 
done. 

As the publishers here most respectfully decline to publish your manuscript, we 
would ask what you wish us to do with the same. Shall we return it to you, or 
what shall be done with it ? We will return it by express, or in any other way that 
you think will be the cheapest for you to have us send it. 

Hoping to hear from you, I remain, 

As ever your brother in Christ, 


MY ANSWER. 

Aug. 24, 1895. 

Dear Brother : In answer to Brother S ’s letter of the 22d, would say, when 

I was raising my family, I tried to raise them right, though not in Christianity; for 
I never believed in claiming to be a Christian just to be popular in the human eye ; 
for I know that much Christianity is carried on just for popularity. 

After I had raised my family, and my earthly work you might say was finished, 
I picked up the Bible and read the first chapter, with the intention of reading to 


26 


HOW ARE WE LED? 


the last chapter inclusively. The Bible teaches us, and all classes of ministers tell 
us, that God can do miracles through human power. The very same teachings tell 
us that Satan can also accomplish great corruption by the aid of the human hand. 

When I began to read the Bible, my wife forbade it. I went by myself to read 
it, but she would search me out and tell me that it made her nervous, and that she 
wanted me to lay my Bible aside. 

I then took my Bible into my room after she had gone to bed ; I closed my door 
and lit my lamp to read by myself. She would get up and come to my room, blow 
out my light, and tell me that the smell of the lamp made her nervous, and that I 
must lay my Bible aside. In most respects I had as good a wife as a woman could 
be ; but if this was not the work of the devil, the Bible or the preachers need ever 
tell us again that Satan does his work through human beings. 

Finally my wife told me that I must lay down my Bible or leave my home. In 
earthly toils and cares I usually yielded to her requests, but now I felt that my 
spiritual welfare did not interest her, and I would not yield. Therefore I gave her 
all my earthly possessions, except my Bible, and I left my home. 

It was then that I went to God in prayer, and told him that I had given up all 
earthly possessions to become his servant. It was then that I became fully deter- 
mined to live a Christian life. But brother, let me tell you that I was thirty years 
too late. I ought to have been living a Christian life when my first child was born. 
I ought to have raised my boys in Christianity, for God will bestow a hundredfold 
more blessing upon the parent that raises one child in true Christianity than he will 
upon the minister that converts one thousand to popular Christianity. 

Dear brother, I have given up all earthly possessions to become a servant of God 
according to the best of my judgment. 

I feel it is my mission to show to parents that the responsibility lies more upon 
the shoulders of the parent than it does upon the shoulders of the son, for the crimes 
that the son commits. 

I feel it is my mission to show to the mothers that they have a hundredfold 
more power over their children than the father has, if they exercise their power in 
due season. 

I feel it my mission to show to the parents how to live true Christanity at home, 
whilst our preachers show us how to live popular Christanity abroad. 

I believe in punishing children when they just begin to toddle ; then a very 
light stick will do more good than a cudgel will do in youth. I believe in whipping 
parents when they are young, and are just beginning to be parents ; and in this 
book they can get that whipping, if they want to take it as a whipping. And 
ministers, too, can take the same whipping, if they desire it. 

Now if I have erred in writing this manuscript, dear brother, pardon me. 

If there is anything in that saying that Satan has power in the human heart to 
plan corruptions, and that God has power to enlighten the righteous; if there is 
anything in those sayings, dear brother, I ask your prayers, that God may show 
me my errors, and correct my mistakes. 

Please find 40 cents enclosed to pay the express on my manuscript, and express 
it to C. H. Sanders, 

Lowell, Lake Co., Ind. 

Let us now look at Brother S ’s letter again. We find that he does 

not, and cannot contradict one word that I have written. He merely tries to 
discourage me from putting my manuscript to press. Dear readers, he says 
that he does not question the sincerity of my motives and efforts, yet he does 
not try to aid me in the least to get my manuscript in proper shape for the 
press, but on the contrary he tries to discourage me. Again let me ask, Is 
this not the work of Satan again to stand in the way that I shall not do the 
work that God has given me to do ? 

Dear readers, I know that there is a reality in Christanity ; and I know 
that the mind of God will converse with, and guide, the mind of man* when 


SUPPLEMENT TO CHAPTER ONE. 


27 


man will yield to be guided by him. And I know that the mind of Satan 
will converse with, and guide, the mind of man, when man yields to Satan. 
And when it is bred, born, and cultivated in the mind of man, from genera- 
tion to generation, to walk in the path of Satan, how can we expect him to 
repent and walk perfect in the path of righteousness ? 

I am not perfect, and when I look the world over, I cannot find one that 
I can call perfect ; therefore I have said in this pamphlet that no person 
must call my writing perfect, but think for yourself. I shall try to show to 
the mothers that they can bring true Christianity into their own house by 
remembering that no person is perfect, for the woman who thinks she has 
got a perfect husband, despises his blunders when his imperfections are seen. 
By mild, but positive, commands to their children for the mother that com- 
pels her child to obey her commands, to obey their father’s commands, to 
obey their teacher’s commands, will have children that will enjoy sweet 
entertainment at home. That woman, though her husband may not be as 
kind to her as he ought, yet she will enjoy true Christianity at home ; and 
they can go to church, and show true Christianity to the world. 

The children of Satan will tempt, decoy, and try to lead such children 
into the path of corruption ; but the mother that has the most patience, and 
heeds not the vanity of Satan, is the mother that receives the greatest reward, 
both in this world and in the world to come. 

The world’s people tell us that the child that is raised to obey the 
parents’ commands are the wildest when they become of age, but that 
is all false. The child that is permitted to do just as it pleases part of the 
time, and then is unreasonably punished at other times, will be a spoiled 
child. 

Many people say that they do not believe in whipping a child ; they say 
that children can be raised without the use of the rod. But we must 
remember that all parents are not constituted alike. Let us remember also 
that all children are not constituted alike ; and when you go to those parents 
and tell them that you cannot make your child mind without the whip, and 
ask them to aid you in raising your children, they will tell you that they 
have not time ; that they have all they can do to raise their own children. 

Then, dear mother, what must you do ? You must go home and raise 
your child according to your own judgment. Pay no heed to what they say ; 
let them raise their children as they please, and say what they please, but 
you must raise your child according to your own judgment. Compel your 
child to obey your commands ; and the smaller the child, the more good you 
can do. If you never whip your child when you are angry, you will not 
hurt your child. There is no parent that can live perfectly, or that can 
raise their child perfect ; but those that come the nearest to it, are the ones 
that enjoy the greatest pleasure with their children, both in this world, and 
in the world to come. 

Bear readers, I feel it my mission to show to the world that fathers are 
kings and rulers of the farms ; but mothers are queens and rulers of ever- 
lasting happiness. And had brother S in his letter to me said that 

my manuscript was imperfect and that he would help me to make it perfect, 


28 HOW ARE WE LED? 

he would have shown a desire to work for true Christianity, rather than for 
popular Christianity. 

After waiting for my manuscript a month without hearing from it, I 
again wrote the firm asking for it. I put those letters into my work to 
show to the world that when I thought to be a Christian I wanted to be a 
true Christian, as I understood the Bible. But in every move that I made 
it appeared that Satan stood before me. But if they will not allow me to 
talk because I disagree with them in belief, my work must be printed at all 
hazard. 

Here is another letter that I wrote to the printer : — 


Sept. 22 , 1895 . 

Dear Brother : Are you honest with me ? Near two weeks ago you sent me 
a postal asking me to be patient, saying that you would send my manuscript in a 
day or two. If you are using all or any part of my manuscript, and at the same 
time telling me that it is entirely worthless, that is not honesty. Yet at the same 
time if you are using any part of my manuscript to bring true light on religion, in 
any way, I will be patient. But if you are detaining my manuscript through any 
wrong intent, I must and will have my rights, let it cost what it may. 

Dear brother, if you are a true child of Christ, you cannot deal dishonestly 
with me just because we disagree in our views. Therefore I leave it to your judg- 
ment alone. If you are detaining my manuscript for any good and honest cause 
whatever, I shall be patient yet a little while. 

Please let me know your intent and oblige 

Lowell , Ind. C. H. Sanders. 

I afterward learned that it was the work of Satan that detained my manu- 
script. The detention was in the mail instead of the brother addressed, so 
it appears that Satan is in front of me in every move that I make. But I 
added more to this letter before I sent it. 

P. S. Brother, since I wrote this letter I have learned that you have 
written to my son, in Illinois, stating that you was in possession of my 
manuscript, and that it is merely a novel, and poorly composed at that. 

Let me ask, Can a true tale be a novel ? If so, I admit my manuscript 
to be a novel. As for what I have written for the truth, it is as true as any 
part of the Bible ; as for what I have quoted, I have asked my readers not 
to think as I think, neither as you think, but to read it for themselves, and 
then use their own judgment. Fictitious tales are novels ; but if you class 
true tales as novels you must call the Bible a novel, for Moses wrote much 
of his writings in parable, and for that reason we are left in the dark as to 
many things. 

Jesus also taught us in parables, but he told us it was a parable, and so 
he gave us -great light on many things. 

Brother, let me ask you what is a parable ? Is it to compare unseen 
things with visible objects, as Jesus did in comparing the teachings of man’s 
mind to seed sown on foul ground ? Or the comparing of the unforbidden 
fruit, which was the evil thoughts in the minds of Adam and Eve, with 
fruit in a garden ? Were not those comparisons parables ? When God told 
Adam and Eve that their minds should be separated from godliness if they 


SUPPLEMENT TO CHAPTER ONE. 


29 


partook of the evil thoughts of their beautiful minds, when he compared 
those evil thoughts with evil fruit on a beautiful looking tree in a handsome 
garden, and also compared that separation of the mind with the separation 
of the breath from the body, which is called death ; this separation of the 
mind from godliness we now call first death, or spiritual death. Brother, 
were not those comparisons in parable ? 

When God told me to go two hundred miles, and that there I would find 
a broken lamp, but it was broken, yet perfect enough to give me good light, 
I went and through the aid of a human being I received great light. That 
person was broken from perfection, yet perfect enough to give me much 
light. I found no lamp such as we use in our houses ; I found no light to 
the mortal eye, yet a great lamp, a great light to the mind. Brother, those 
things must be revealed to us in parables, with something that we can under- 
stand ; and if you call it a novel, call all a novel. I know that I am far 
from being perfect, and that my manuscript is not perfect ; but I have 
asked my readers not to trust to my judgment, neither too much to the 
judgment of their ministers, for no man, not even the ministers are perfect. 
But I have asked my readers to read, think, and judge, for themselves. 
But all of those things do not justify the detention of my manuscript. 

Jesus taught us that when a person began to try to live a Christian life t 
that Satan would stand in front of him in every way possible. Dear brother, 
does it not appear that Satan has stood in front of me in every way possible ? 

Our preachers teach us to live a Christian life in their church, but in no 
other. But I must try to teach the mothers to live a Christian life at home, 
regardless of a church, and to begin to live such a life as soon as they have 
a home to live in ; even though my teachings are in the style of a novel. 

The mother that lives a Christian life at home, regardless of the style or 
popularity in the church, or in the country, is the one that receives the 
greatest reward in this world, and in the world to come, even though their 
husbands may be far from Christians. 

I have no desire to teach those that are already living Christian lives, for 
they need no teaching ; but those that want to live Christian lives, and 
know not what Christianity is, those are the ones that need teaching. 

Let me say that a man may go into a neighborhood where there are 
twenty boys that have had but little schooling, and say to those boys, You 
are old enough now to begin bookkeeping ; come now before my desk and 
keep my books. Those boys will all be anxious to keep his books ; but how 
many of them can do their work right ? In parable our preachers do the 
very same thing ; they go into a neighborhood and say, You are old enough 
to become Christians ; they will go forward and say that they believe that 
Jesus Christ was the true Son of God. The preacher will flatter them for 
making that noble confession ; they will baptize them, and place their names 
on the class book, and those persons will dress the best they can, go to 
church once a week to hear the preacher speak without materially changing 
their habits at home. Then those people are called Christians, and they are 
as perfect Christians as those boys are perfect bookkeepers ; their will is 
good to be a Christian, 6ut their education is lacking. 


30 


HOW ARE WE LED? 


If I was to teach farming, I would teach the men, for no woman can 
accomplish a complete farmership over the growling obstructions of a snarl- 
ing husband. The husband is king and ruler over the farm. But as I am 
trying to teach Christianity, I try to teach the mothers ; for no man can 
perfect a complete Christian household over the growling obstructions of a 
snarling wife ; for the mother is queen and ruler over everlasting happiness, 
or everlasting damnation. 

The wife and mother is even ahead of God (if I may so speak) in creat- 
ing hell-fire, or happiness for others aside from themselves, both in this 
world and in the world to come ; although every person carries the keys of 
heaven and hell in their own hands, after they get old enough to see where 
they stand. 

Now let me say to the wives, that no man is perfect ; no human being is 
perfect ; whilst your husband is imperfect in one way, your neighbor’s hus- 
band is imperfect in some other way. When you see a fault in your husband 
don’t think him worse than all other men, because you do not see the same 
fault in them ; if they have not that fault they have some others. Again, 
it may be a fault in you, when you are thinking it a fault in your husband ; 
but at all events when things go wrong your husband is annoyed enough 
without the hell-fire that you may deal out, for this hell-fire rolls from the 
human tongue, and if it is never kindled in this world, it will never be 
experienced in the world to come. If you cultivate a disposition to overlook 
the faults and console your husband, you will have a husband and a family 
that will enjoy sweet entertainment at home. 

I like to see a neat and tidy woman, and a neat and tidy house ; but the 
woman that keeps her house so nice that her husband or the children cannot 
go into it without annoying her, she has a house that is a curse to her, in- 
stead of a comfort to her. Such a house is merely a handsome house, filled 
with hell-fire, and the mother is the administrator of this hell-fire. 

It creates far more comfort and happiness, even to the mother herself, to 
live in a cottage filled with Christianity, than to live in a palace filled with 
hell-fire. I like to see a nice house, but if a child brings filth into that 
house, let the mother ask that child, or another child, to remove such filth ; 
and if the child is trained to obey the mother’s word without any hesitation, 
or any angry words, there is more beauty manifest in the mild actions of 
that child than there is in the brilliancy of the whole house. 

If mothers train their children to readily obey their mild commands in 
all places, they will readily obey such commands when told to shun evil 
company. Mothers are queens of glory, inheritors of children, and rulers of 
eternal separation or unity, which is called eternal death or life. This 
eternal separation must last forever, though we call it eternal death ; if it 
be death it is a lasting death, and mothers are rulers of it. Moses said that 
the iniquities of the fathers should visit their children for three or four gen- 
erations, but I say that the iniquities of the minds of the mothers will visit 
the minds of their children for three or four generations, and that together 
with the training of the children, makes mothers accountable for the crimes 
that their children commit. 


SUPPLEMENT TO CHAPTER ONE 


31 


To show to the mothers a little more necessity fo* then watchful care 
over their infants and their youths, I will turn to the 16th chapter of Luke, 
and here we find that Jesus told us of a great gulf between heaven and hell. 
Now I shall use mortal life as a parable to that great gulf. And I shall use 
the path of righteousness, as the straight and narrow path that leads from 
birth to heaven, through that great gulf. This straight and narrow path is 
the path that the righteous must walk in, and all the work that we have to 
do to walk in this straight and narrow path, is to constantly try to do right. 
We may belong to any church in the universe, carry our heads to the high- 
est notch, pay our preachers the highest price, and do all of those things in 
public, yet when we find ourselves doing a wrong, we are out of this path of 
righteousness ; it is then that we are not faithfully at work. 

Whether we belong to any church or not, if we are constantly trying to 
do right by all, we are faithfully at work, and shall receive our reward 
according to our works. I belong to no church whatever ; I never joined 
any church. I once asked a Campbellite minister to immerse me, with the 
understanding that I would not join his church, and I walked with his breth- 
ren until they rejected me. 

As for our works in following this straight and narrow path, we remem- 
ber in Matt. 16 : 27, Jesus said, “He shall reward every man according to 
his works.” All the works that we have to do is to follow this straight and 
narrow path by doing right to all the world, and God will reward every one 
according to his walk. 

Diagram Representing this Mortal State. 

On the next page I will present a diagram to show in parable that this 
mortal life is the great gulf between heaven and hell that Jesus spoke about 
in the 16th chapter of Luke. I will draw a line from birth to heaven, for 
the . straight and narrow path in which we should walk. And I will try to 
show to mothers why we should walk in this path from birth up. 

I once tried to show this in our class meeting, but our preacher objected 
to my views ; and by that I learned that I must read the Bible, formulate 
ideas, and take those ideas to the preacher, and if the preacher approved of 
them I could then take them before the class. 

In this chart we find the great gulf of mortal life, and just above this 
great gulf is heaven, and just beneath it is hell. Luke 16 : 26. The 
straight line through this great gulf, from birth to heaven’s gate, is the 
straight and narrow path in which Jesus walked from his birth unto his 
crucifixion. The crooked lines from infancy to hell’s gate, is the broad way 
in which many have drifted across this great gulf of life, regardless of where 
they were going. 

This strait and narrow path is lined with the beautiful flowers of right- 
eousness, and every child that is born into this great gulf of human life, is 
started on this strait and narrow path toward heaven. 

In following this righteous path from birth toward heaven, we see them 
in infancy, boyhood, and youth, constantly drifting from this path into the 


32 HOW ABE WE LED? 

crooked and rugged path of sin, to float where they may on this great gulf. 

It is often said that every one must paddle his own canoe, but mothers 
ought not to let this be the case. Mothers ought to paddle the canoe of 
their little ones past infancy, boyhood, and youth ; and start them straight 
up this righteous path in early manhood. But where mothers have left 
them to paddle their own canoe, we see them drifting to and fro across this 



great gulf of life, swaying back and forth on this rugged path of sin, until 
they finally sink into eternal death. Then they can look across this great 
gulf to where Lazarus is in Abraham’s bosom ; but there is no chance to ever 
again enter this great gulf of life, to pass over to Abraham. 

But as we pass up this straight and narrow path, watching them drifting 
down this rugged path, we see some that repent and turn back to this 


SUPPLEMENT TO CHAPTER ONE. 


S3 

straight and narrow path whilst yet in youth, and follow this path o c 
through life ; but the righteous flowers that line this path through boyhood 
he failed to see. Then we pass on to early manhood, and find others repent- 
ing and returning to this righteous path, but they also have failed to see 
the righteous flowers of boyhood and youth. Then we pass on farther, and 
find them repenting at middle age or gray hairs, and returning to the straight 
and narrow path ; but how many righteous flowers along this righteous path, 
from infancy up to middle age or gray hairs, have they missed seeing. 

Then we pass on a little farther, and we find them repenting and return- 
ing to this straight and narrow path at the eleventh hour, even on their 
death-bed ; and I ask, how many righteous flowers along this straight and 
narraw path have they seen ? We remember that all the work that we have 
got to do is to walk in this straight and narrow path ; and we find that they 
have strayed far from it, and returned to it in youth, middle age, gray 
hairs, and even on their death-bed. All come in at the ninth, tenth, or 
eleventh hour. Matt. 16:27. “And then He shall reward every man ac- 
cording to his works. ” And all the works that we have to do is to gather 
the righteous flowers along this righteous path. Can a person that comes 
in at gray hairs, or on his death-bed say, Yes, Lord, I gathered all the 
righteous flowers along this straight and narrow path from infancy up ? 
Can even the one that returned at youth, or early manhood, say, Yes, Lord, 
I have seen those beautiful flowers from my cradle up ? Can a person that 
has swayed back and forth across this great gulf, follow this righteous path 
as straight as one who has practiced it from infancy up ? Can a man that 
has practiced swearing all his life, meet all sorts of earthly toils, and keep 
as free from swearing as one that has never sworn ? Can a man that has 
practiced drinking all his life, quit and feel as free from the appetite as 
one who never drank ? We receive our reward according to our works ; 
and all the works that we have to do is to cross this great gulf in this right- 
eous path. Can any person tell me that I ought not to try to show to the 
mothers that they ought to paddle the canoe for their little ones, up to 
early manhood ? They can all say, Father, I have come into heaven on 
this straight and narrow path ; but he says to the first, What were the right- 
eous flowers of boyhood ? Yea, Father, I know not ; I did not see them. 
He says to the second, What were the righteous flowers of early life ? and 
to the third, and fourth, What were the righteous flowers all along this 
path ? Their answer is, Yea, Lord, I know not ; I did not see them. 
“And then he shall reward every man according to his works.” 

I once tried to show to the brethren that when they repented, they must 
leave this drifting, floating way, across this great gulf, and climb straight 
up to righteousness, and walk straight from there on to gain heaven. But 
the preacher said, No ; climb up nothing ; you must go clear back to infancy, 
and follow this straight and narrow path from infancy up, and take in the 
righteous flowers the whole length of this path. Then he quoted the words 
of Jesus, “ Except ye be converted and become as little children.” He said 
that we must go back to infancy and start on this righteous path from the 
beginning. 

3 


u 


HOW ARE WE LED? 


Dear readers, this is impossible ; the mind is all the spirit that man has ; 
the mind is all that ever goes to heaven ; the mind is all that was made in 
the image of God, and all that is everlasting. And it is impossible to cast 
out the mind and create a new mind, and grow it up in this righteous path 
from infancy to old age. It is impossible to cast out the mind and know 
nothing of what transacted in early life, and then report to God that you 
have walked in the righteous path from infancy. 

Dear readers, when your preachers tell you that you have got to go back 
to infancy and start in this righteous path from the beginning, think on 
what they say. When I tell you that you must climb up to the righteous 
path from where you are when you repent, and that you must report to God 
that you have missed seeing the righteous flowers from infancy up to that 
time, you may think on what I say, and use your own judgment. 

If a man claims to be a minister of the gospel, he ought to explain the 
teachings of Jesus so that common minds can understand it. Thus, if he 
quotes Matt. 18:3, “ Except ye be converted, and become as little children, 
ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven,” should he say that you must 
cast out the evil mind, you must grub out the evil tree, and start a little 
tree, an infant’s mind, and grow it right from the beginning ; or shall they 
say you must cut off the evil mind, cut off the evil tree, and graft it anew 
that it may bring forth good fruit ? 

Did Jesus say that we should grub out our minds, and take in an infant 
mind, as a little child ? or did he say that we should become as pure in mind 
as a little child ? as willing to do right as a little child ? as free from sin as 
a little child ? That is to say, not to commit a sin intentionally. He did not 
say that our mind should become as that of a little child in stature, but in 
purity, innocency, and willingness. Leave off your evil deeds where they 
are, and walk in righteousness thereafter ; for we remember that Jesus said, 
“ He shall reward every man according to his works.” Then let us look at 
him that comes in at the tenth or eleventh hour, at gray hairs, or on his 
death bed, to recieve his penny, the same as he that cometh in at the 
first hour. 

But first let us look at some factory iu our city, and we find three boys 
at work. The first boy is wholly permitted to paddle his own canoe, and he 
practices frequenting the saloons as quick as his day’s work is done. His 
constant desire is for drink. 

The second boy has different parents, who teach him the danger of 
strong drink. Those teachings partly prevent him from paddling his own 
canoe. He frequents the museums and other sporting places ; he does not 
cultivate an appetite for drink, but his money seems to go as fast as he 
earns it. 

The third boy is raised by a mother who desires to paddle the canoe of 
her son until he is old enough to see the straight and narrow path, and so 
works his way up that path. He labors in the same shop with the other two, 
receives the same wages as the others, but when night comes, he joins the 
home circle and enjoys sweet entertainment at home. He gives every penny 
of his wages to his mother ; he has no more money when pay-day is passed 


SUPPLEMENT TO CHAPTER ONE. 


35 


than the first two have. Those boys work in the same shop equally alike, 
receive their pay equally alike, and when pay-day has passed their money is 
all gone equally alike. 

Now let me ask, When those boys become men, and work in the same 
shops through life, and receive the same wages per day, which of those men 
will support the best house, enjoy the most comforts of life, and bestow the 
most happiness on those that are around them ? On the part of the pay- 
master, Jesus said that each man should receive his penny equally alike ; on 
the part of the money, each penny is equally of value ; but on the part of 
the man, cultivation of the mind has created enjoyment for each one accord- 
ing to the works done in the body. 

Some say there is a plain contradiction in the teachings of Jesus. In 
Matt. 20 : 9, 10, Jesus in parable said, “And when they came that were 
hired about the eleventh hour, they received every man a penny. When 
the first came . . . they likewise received every man a penny. ” Now the 
paymaster in the shop gave those three men their wages equally alike. On 
the part of the paymaster (God) every man receives his reward equally 
alike ; on the part of the reward, the paymaster (God) has created every 
enjoyment (penny) equally of value ; but on the part of man, cultivation 
has fixed the mind of every person so that they may enjoy their reward. 
Matt. 16:27. u Every man according to his works.” 

Now we find on the part of the paymaster, every man shall receive his 
penny equally alike. God has created one happiness, and that happiness is 
equally free to all. Then we find that on the part of man, by cultivation of 
the mind every man enjoys that happiness according to the way he has 
cultivated his mind, and walked in the straight and narrow path. Every 
person that enters into heaven, gathering the righteous flowers along this 
righteous path, from youth, middle age, old age, or from his death-bed ; 
enjoys the reward according to his (cultivation) walk. Here we find that 
every person carries the keys of heaven and of hell in their own hands, and 
all that they have to do to turn those keys is to turn their walk whilst on 
this great gulf, from those drifting waves to this righteous path. 

Now, dear mothers, is it necessary that we paddle the canoe of our little 
ones, that they may gather those righteous flowers as they cross this great 
gulf, from their infancy up ? 

We know that many have received their reward by joining a church, and 
cultivating their minds, after they have left their home circle ; but had their 
minds been cultivated from infancy up, would not their enjoyment in this 
church have been much greater ? would not their enjoyment in the home 
circle have been much more pleasant ? would not their mothers have shared 
their enjoyment ? and would not they receive a higher reward in heaven ? 

After showing my readers how that Satan has obstructed me in every 
effort that I have made, I still feel like showing also the works of Satan in 
those books that were handed me to read. I have therefore hastened my 
manuscript into the hands of the printers who have done this work. 


HOW ARE WE LED? 


CHAPTER II. 

FRAILTY OF OUR BIBLE WRITERS. 

I had two books handed me that touch the frailty of our Bible writers, for that 
reason I handle this subject. My object in considering this frailty is to pre- 
pare the minds of my readers, that they may better understand the inconsist- 
encies of the writers of those books now in my possession. 

Dear Readers : I have two books before me. The one is written by an 
unbeliever, and I find that he tells us that our Bible writers have written the 
Bible through fraud. And his greatest argument is on the grounds that 
Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, in writing on the same subject did not use 
the same words. 

He carries the idea that man is perfect, and that every word that man 
speaks or writes ought to be perfect. So if he can find a word in the Bible 
that he judges is not perfect, he condemns the whole verse ; and if he can 
find a verse that is not perfect, he condemns the whole chapter ; and so the 
whole book, and lastly the whole Bible. Then he says it is all written 
through fraud, for dishonest purposes. 

Then I take up the other book, and I find it was written by a minister of 
the gospel. He tells us that some of our Bible writers are frail, men of 
human infirmity. On this point I will agree with him, for all human beings 
are more or less frail. If Jesus was perfect, he was the only perfect one 
ever known on earth, or at least the only one mentioned in the Sacred Rec- 
ord. When you find a person that is perfect, you will find one whose spirit 
is another Christ. God does not ask a person to practice a perfect life in 
order to become a Christian, but he asks us to live as near perfect as we can ; 
and when we fail to do so, we fail to be true Christians. 

But let us look a little at some of the men that God talked with. Mr. 
Ingersoll says that they wrote the Bible through fraud and deceit ; I say, 
through human frailty. They did not understand all of God’s words when 
he spoke to them, therefore, I claim that there are things written in the 
Bible that are not written just as God spoke it, or just as he would desire it 
to be written. Elder Gitchell, a minister of the gospel, tells us that Moses 
(the first and greatest teacher of religious truth), was frail. To this I say 
yes, Moses was frail ; and I will show that men after the birth of Jesus 
were frail also ; for I claim that there was never a human being that trod 
the face of the earth but what was more or less frail. 

But if we allow Brother Gitchell to say that some words of the Old Tes- 
tament are not perfect, on the account of frailty in the Old Testament 
writers, please allow me to say that some words in the New Testament, also, 
are not perfect, on the account of the frailty of the New Testament writers. 
After we have looked at the frailties of the old Bible men, then let us look 
at the men of the present day to see if we cannot find frailty in our own 
time also. And we will begin with the writings of Col. Robert Ingersoll. 


FRAILTY OF OUR BIBLE WRITERS. 37 

(In quoting from the Bible, if I leave out a part of any verse, I will not 
put in any marks of omission, unless I take up the same verse again.) 


I will first briefly consider the 41st 
chapter of Genesis, to show that when 
God talked with man, man was too frail 
to understand God’s words. 


I will quote just as few words from 
the Bible as I possibly can, in order to 
give a clear understanding of my object 
in view. 


In looking over this chapter we learn 
that God talked with Pharaoh, but 
Pharaoh was too frail to understand 
God’s talk. God told Pharaoh that 
there should be a famine. Pharaoh 
called all of his wise men together, but 
the frailty that they possessed would 
not permit them to understand God. 
Then he called Joseph (who was in more 
perfect unity with God), and he under- 
stood God’s words, and told Pharaoh the 
meaning thereof. 


In the 40th chapter of Genesis we 
learn that God spoke to the butler and 
the baker, but their human weakness 
would not permit them to understand 
him. But Joseph, who was more perfect, 
understood God’s talk, and told the but- 
ler and the baker the meaning of his 
words to them. 


In the 7th chapter of Judges God is 
said to have spoken to Gideon, but he 
could not understand the Lord because 
he was not perfect. 


Genesis 41:1: “Pharaoh dreamed 
. . . . he stood by the river.” 

Ver. 2. “And .... there came 
up out of the river seven well favored 
kine and fatfleshed.” 

Ver. 3. “And, behold, seven other 
kine came up after them .... ill fav- 
ored and leanfleshed.” 

Ver. 4. “And the .... leanfleshed 
kine did eat up the .... fat kine. So 
Pharaoh awoke.” 

Ver. 5. “And he slept .... the 
second time, and .... seven ears of 
corn came up upon one stalk, rank and 
good.” 

Ver. 6. “ And .... seven thin ears 

. . . . sprang up after them.” 

Ver. 7. “And the seven thin ears 
devoured the seven .... full ears ; and 
Pharaoh awoke.” 

Ver. 8. “And he sent and called for 
all ... . the wise men, .... and 
Pharaoh told them his dreams ; but 
there was none that could interpret them 
unto Pharaoh.” 

Ver. 14. “ Then Pharaoh .... 

called Joseph. 

Ver. 25. And Joseph said, . . . . 

Ver. 26. The seven good ears are 
seven years, [of plenty]; 

Ver. 27. And the seven empty ears 
.... be seven years of famine. 

Ver. 47. And in the seven plenteous 
years the earth brought forth by handfuls 

Ver. 54. And the seven years of 
dearth began to come. 

Ver. 56. And the famine was over all 
the face of the earth.” 


In the second of Daniel it is written that God talked with Nebuchadnez- 
zar, but he could not understand God’s talk. Again in the fourth and sev- 
enth chapters of Daniel we find that God talked with men there, but they 
were too imperfect to fully understand him. 

If we pick any man that we have a mind to, and say that he was perfect 
enough to understand all that God said to him, and that every word that he # 
wrote down was God’s word to perfection, we must think that that man was 
as perfect as Jesus was. We must conclude that that man s spirit was as 
much of Christ as the spirit of Jesus was Christ. 


38 


HOW ARE WE LED? 


Let us now turn to the New Testament and see if in later times they un- 
derstood all of God’s communications to them. 


In the Book of Acts we find that God 
talked with Peter while the apostle was 
on the house-top, and that Peter thought 
upon the vision. Read the tenth chap- 
ter of Acts carefully, and we find that 
Peter did not understand God’s talk. 


(The seventeenth verse says, “Now 
while Peter doubted in himself what 
this vision .... should mean.’’) And 
while Peter showed human imperfection 
in not understanding God, three men 
called at the gate for him. 


If Peter had been perfect, as God 
himself is perfect, he would have under- 
stood God’s words, let them be spoken as 
they might. But we see, dear reader, 
that there was frailty in Peter’s not un- 
derstanding God’s word. 


Now I ask in all sincerity, Was that 
frailty on the part of God ? or was it on 
the part of Peter ? If it was through 
lack of understanding in Peter, there 
must have been human frailty, in at 
least one of our New Testament writers. 


Acts 10 • 9. “Peter went up upon the 
house-top to pray.” 

Ver. 10. “And he became very 
hungry he fell into a trance.” 

Ver. 11. “And saw heaven open, 
and a certain vessel descending.” 

Ver. 12. Wherein were all manner 
of fourfooted beasts .... and creeping 
things, and fowls of the air.” 

Ver. 13. “And there came a voice 
to him, Rise, Peter; kill, and eat.” 

Ver. 14. “But Peter said, .... I 
have never eaten anything that is com- 
mon or unclean.” 

Ver. 15. “ And the voice spoke 

. . . . again, .... What God hath 
cleansed, that call not thou common.” 

Ver. 19. “While Peter thought on the 
vision, the Spirit said, .... Three men 
seek thee. (Ver. 21.) Peter went down 
to the men.” (Peter went with the men 
to Cornelius’s house). 

Ver. 25. “ And as Peter was coming 

in Cornelius met him. (Ver. 28.) He 
said unto them, Ye know how that it is 
an unlawful thing for a man that is a 
Jew to keep company, or come unto one 
of another nation ; but God hath shown 
me that I should not call any man com- 
mon or unclean.” 

Ver. 17. “Now, while Peter doubted 
in himself what this vision which he 
had seen should mean,” etc. 


Some may say that God does not talk plainly to man, so that man can 
readily understand. This may he true. The Lord talks to the mind when 
the body is senseless, and then he leaves it for human study. And when 
our preachers tell us that every word of the New Testament is God’s word to 
perfection, they in effect tell us that the New Testament writers were as per- 
fect as Jesus himself. But when they tell us that the New Testament is 
God’s word, as near as human knowledge and judgment could write it, then 
I agree with them ; for I believe that every New Testament writer wrote 
God’s word according to the very best of his ability. 

Now let us turn to the words of Jesus, who talked to human beings face 
to face, and in their own language. Here we find that common human 
frailty would not permit the people to understand all of God’s words. 


39 


EXTRACTS FROM INGERSOLL’S MISTAKES, ETC. 


In reading the first four books of the 
New Testament we find many things that 
Jesus told his disciples which they 
could not understand. 

I ask, was it frailty in Jesus that 
they could not understand him ; or was 
it frailty in his disciples ? If the dis- 
ciples were too imperfect to understand 
Jesus when he talked to them face to 
face, were they perfect enough to write 
every word in its perfection that God 
gave them ? 


Mark 9:31. “He [Jesus] taught his 
disciples, and said .... they shall kill 
him ; and after that he is killed, he shall 
rise the third day.” 

Yer. 32. “But they understood not 
that saying, and were afraid to ask 
him.” 

Matt. 16 : 9. “Do ye not yet under- 
stand ? (Ver. 11.) How is it that ye do 
not understand that I speak it not to 
you concerning bread, (Ver. 12) but of 
the doctrine of the Pharisees.” 


When our preachers tell us that every word of the New Testament is God’s 
word in its absolute perfection, they drive the earnest reader into skepticism. 
When they come out and teach us that every word of the New Testament is 
God’s word, as pure and as perfect as the human, Christian hand could write 
it, then they will induce the earnest reader to come out of infidelity and 
believe the words of the apostles. 

When our ministers teach us that the mind of man is what God 
made in his own image, and that one great point in this image is that God 
is an everlasting mind, and that man’s mind is an everlasting mind, in the 
image of God ; when our ministers teach us that the mind is the corn that 
is raised from this moldering stalk ; when our ministers teach us that if 
the mind is pure and free from deeds of crime when it is taken from this 
moldering stalk, or body, it is taken to the God who gave it, to remain in 
everlasting enjoyment ; when our ministers teach those things, then the 
world will see the object of living the Christian life. 

The more knowledge the mind has (to use a simple illustration), the 
larger the ear of corn is ; the more pure and free from crime the mind is, 
the brighter the ear of corn is ; the more crimes and corruption there is in 
the mind, the smuttier the ear of corn is ; the more the mind scorches itself 
with hell-fire and torments in this life, the greater that hell-fire and torments 
through all eternity. 


CHAPTER III. 

EXTRACTS FROM INGERSOLl/s MISTAKES, WITH COMMENTS THEREON. 

I will slightly sketch through Mr. Ingersoll’s lectures, just enough to show how 
extremely he exaggerates in order to win converts, or money, or both. 

A book has been handed me entitled, “ Ingersoll’s Mistakes.” In look- 
ing over this book it appears that the writer is an infidel. It also appears 
that he has been giving infidelic lectures at different times, and in different 
places ; and we find four of those lectures in this book. 

As I have said, this book is entitled, “Ingersoll’s Mistakes.” Now I 
will show a few of those mistakes to my readers. But I will not dwell long 


40 


HOW ARE WE LED? 


on this part of my book, for I have other matters that interest me more than 
this. I will now quote a few of those mistakes to show the reader how 
people will exaggerate in order to carry their points. 

I will begin on the 106th page of his first lecture, and will put all of 
the quotations from both Ingersoll’s lectures and from Gitchell’s tract in 
italic that the readers may readily understand which are quotations. 

In my quotations from the Bible I have tried to point it off just as it is 
punctuated in the Bible. In some places I have dropped a verse in the 
middle of a sentence ; in these cases I have placed no point whatever, as 
there was no punctuation at that place in the Bible. 

From “ Ingersoll’s Mistakes,” part first, page 106. 

fWe find the Jewish people first in Canaan, and there werd seventy of them, counting 
Joseph and his children already in Egypt. They lived two hundred and fifteen years, 
and they then went down into Egypt and stayed there two hundred and fifteen years ; they 
were four hundred and thirty years in Canaan and Egypt. 

How many did they have when they went to Egypt ? Seventy. How many were they at 
the end of two hundred and fifteen years ? Three millions. That is a good many. 

We had at the time of the revolution in this country three millions of people. Since 
that time there have been four double, until we have forty-eight millions to-day. How 
many would the Jews number at the same ratio in two hundred and fifteen years ? Call 
it eight double, and we have forty thousand ; but instead of forty thousand they have three 
millions. How do I know they have three millions f Because they had six hundred 
thousand men of war. They must have had at the lowest possible estimate three millions 
of people, Is that true ? Is there a minister iri the City of Chicago that will certify to his 
own idiocy by claiming that they could have increased to three millions by that time ? If 
there is, let him say so. Do not let him talk about the civilizing influence of a lie. 

Let us look at this. Col. Ingersoll has claimed to have doubled the 
Jewish increase, in a twofold ratio, with the increase of the population of 
the United States. Four times would bring it in periods of about twenty- 
eight years each. Dear readers, in a twofold ratio, in periods of twenty- 
eight years each, for two hundred and fifteen years, he claims to have found the 
Jewish population to be forty thousand, whilst the Bible records would show 
them to have had three million. Gentle reader, Mr. Ingersoll has used no 
ratio, whatever, neither has he used sound judgment in estimating the popula- 
tion of the Jews at the end of the two hundred and fifteen years. 

Then he tells us that our population was three million at the time of the 
American Revolution. Our Indiana history tells us that there is no possible 
chance of finding out just what our population was at the time of the Revolu- 
tion, as the first census of the United States was not taken until the year 1790 
a. d. But a note at the bottom of page 194 tells us that it was estimated at 
2,750,000 at the time of the Revolution. 

Again he tells us that our population has increased to 48,000,000. The 
statistics show us that it has increased to more than 62,000,000. Thus we 
see that he has gone beyond reason in every point that he has attempted to 
make. Then he turns to the Jews and says, they took 3,000,000 of people 
out of the land of Egypt. To this he has no proof whatever. He says that 




EXTRACTS EROM INGERSOLl’s MISTAKES, ETC. 41 

he estimates it from their men of war, and from the voters of our own 
country. He has no grounds for making this assertion, but he has made it, 
and we will allow it. He says that it is an unreasonable increase. 

The Bible tells us that the Jews in- 
creased very rapidly. 

Joktan raised thirteen sons; it says 
nothing about daughters. 


The first chapter of Job tells us that 
he raised and lost ten children, and the 
last chapter tells us that they were re- 
placed by raising ten others. 

Josephus’s history tells us that Adam 
raised thirty-three sons and twenty-three 
daughters. Thus it appears that in early 
days the increase was much more rapid 
than at the present time. The Psalms 
and the books of Deuteronomy, Genesis, 
and Exodus tell us that the Jews in- 
creased very rapidly. 

Now let us take an estimate of their increase for 215 years. As the 
Bible tells us, the Jews increased very rapidly : but we will not estimate 
them at 33 sons and 23 daughters ; neither will we estimate them at 13 sons 
regardless of daughters ; but we will estimate them at 4 sons and 4 daugh- 
ters each. And allowing each mother to raise her first child at the age of 
20 years, and one every 2 \ years there-after until she is 38 years old, thus 
making 8 children in every family. Would this be an over estimate, to ful- 
fil the sayings of the Bible, and cause the children of Israel to increase 
abundantly ? 

This would make a new generation every 20 years, in a fourfold ratio, 
counting no person over the age of forty years. 


Gen. 10 : 26. Joktan begat Almodad, 
and Sheleph, and Hazarmaveth, and 
Jerah, 

27. And Hadoram, and Uzal, and 
Diklah, and Obal, and Abimael, and 
Sheba, and Ophir, and Havilah, and 
Jobab ; 

Job 1:2. And there were born unto 
him seven sons and three daughters. 

42: 12. So the Lord blessed the latter 
end of Job more than his beginning: 
for . . . 

13. He had also seven sons and three 
daughters. 

Ex. 1:7. And the children of Israel 
were fruitful, and increased abundantly, 
and multiplied, and waxed exceeding 
mighty; and the land was filled with 
them. 


70 

4 

286,720 

4 

™ 280 

1,146,880 

4 

4 


1,120 

4 

4,587,520 

4 

Ex. 12 : 38. And a mixed multitude 

4,480 

4 

18,350,080 

4 

went up also with them. 

17,920 

4 

73,400,320 

3 


71,680 

220,200,960 



4 


286,720 


42 


HOW ARE WE LED ? 


In periods of 20 years each, and in a fourfold ratio for 215 years, not 
counting the increase of the mixed multitude that went up with them, and 
not reckoning any person over the age of 40 years, we find a number of over 
220,000,000. To this add the mixed multitude, and all that may be living 
over the age of 40 years, and see what a multitude we have. But Col. In- 
gersoll has estimated them at three millions, and what an ado he has made 
over his estimation ! What a dark shadow Mr. Ingersoll has tried to cast 
upon the Bible in saying that there were six hundred thousand men of war. 
How many unsuspecting souls have read his estimate, and his bluffing re- 
marks about that being an exaggerated number, when it possibly could have 
reached over 200,000,000. How many poor souls have received his ideas, 
and carried them to their tombs. Mr. Ingersoll cares not for the souls of 
his readers, but it is their money that he is after. 

From “Ingersoll’s Mistakes,” part second, p. 109. 

I saw at the same time a row of human skulls , from the lowest skull that has 
been found . . . up to the best skull of the last generations , and I noticed that 
there was the same difference between those skulls that there was between the prod- 
ucts of those skulls , and I said to myself : after all , it is a simple question of 
intellectual development .... the first and lowest skull in this row was the 
den in which crawled the base and meaner instincts of mankind , and the best 
was a temple in which dwelt joy, liberty , and love . ... as he has grown he 
has taken advantage of the forces of nature ; first the moving wind , then the 
falling water , and finally of steam . From one step to another he has obtained 
better houses , better clothes , and better books , .... but that gentleman in the 
dugout not only has his ideas about politics , mechanics , and agriculture ; he 
had his idea also about religion. His idea about politics was , 1 1 right makes 
might. ” He had his religion. That low skull was a devil factory. 

From the lowest skull that has been found , the Neanderthal skull , skulls 
from Central Africa , skulls from the Bushmen of Australia , skulls from the 
farthest isles of the Pacific Sea — 

Mr. Ingersoll in this last quotation remarks, < 1 1 said to myself : After 
all, it is a simple question of intellectual development. ” Let me ask, From 
what nation has this intellectual development come ? Has it sprung from 
this low-skulled nation that he said was a devil factory ? or has it come 
mostly from the Christian nations that had the best developed skulls ? 

He says, ‘ « That gentleman in the dugout had his idea about religion. ” 
Does not that statement show that nature teaches the vilest nations that 
there is something to look after? We ourselves see that the wildest Indian 
found in America had his way of worshiping the Great Spirit. 

In speaking of those skulls again he says, ‘ 1 And the last was a temple 
in which dwelt joy, liberty, and love.” To this let me ask, From what 
nation was this last skull taken ? This temple of joy, liberty, and love, 
was it taken from some of the pagan islands, or was it from a Christian 
nation ? Where is his argument ? If Christianity is a curse to humanity, 
where did he fetch his skulls from ? If he has told the truth about his 


EXTRACTS PROM INGERSOLL’s MISTAKES, ETC. 43 

skulls, he ought to be thankful that he was raised in a Christian country. 
But I will leave this to him, or to the reader, and pass on to the third part 
of his work, where he begins to examine the New Testament. 

From Part Third, p. 3. 

We have found some fifty-two manuscripts containing portions of the New 
Testament. Some of those manuscripts leave out five or six books — many of 
them. Others more, others less. No two of these manuscripts agree. Nobody 
knows who wrote these manuscripts. They are all written in Greek ; the disci- 
ples of Christ knew only Hebrew. Nobody ever saw, so far as we know , one 
of the original Hebrew manuscripts. Nobody ever saw anybody who had seen 
anybody , who had heard of anybody , that had seen anybody that had ever seen 
one of the original Hebrew manuscripts. 

To these assertions let me say the skeptical colonel tried to raise quite a 
breeze about the three million people leaving Egypt. Then he turned right 
around and said that he knew nothing about it, that he only judged from 
their men of war. He told us what our population was at the time of the 
Revolution. One history tells us that there is no possible chance of know- 
ing what our population was at the time of the Revolution. Mr. Ingersoll 
told us that our population (at the time that he made his lecture) was 48, 
000,000. Our statistics tell us that it was over 62,000,000. 

Now let me say that he can throw the Bible onto the floor in the presence 
of one thousand people, and where that Bible flies open he can read words 
that were never between the lids of the Bible. Close the Sacred Book and 
lay it aside. One thousand people may search the Bible a steady month, 
and they can never find where he read those words. And yet many will say 
that they know those words are in the Bible, for they heard them read. 

Dear readers : in five short minutes Col. Ingersoll can put an utter false- 
hood into the minds of one thousand people, and one thousand months will 
not clean it away. And here let me say the same about those New Testa- 
ment manuscripts. Endless ages will not clear out of human minds all that 
those four short lectures have beguiled. I will not say that he has not 
found fifty-two different manuscripts, but I do say, let us use reason. Let 
us look at the New Testament with a reasonable mind. The New Testament 
is only the apostles testifying to what they saw, heard, and knew. If it 
was written through fraud, is there any one foolish enough to believe that 
they left fifty-two different copies lying around to show their fraud ? Paul 
was a deist, a persecutor, a crucifier of Jesus Christ. Paul was there, as 
Ingersoll is here, a disbeliever, a persecutor ; taking a more active part 
then than Ingersoll is taking now. Paul was there, and saw, and knew ; 
and after he became a Christian, he gave us nearly as much instruction as 
all the other apostles. Would he, after being a deist and working against 
Christianity, would he turn to dishonest Christianit}^ and help to write fifty- 
two different copies of parts of the New Testament and leave them to public 
view ? 


44 


HOW ARE WE LED? 


Josephus was another deist, and remained so without turning to Chris- 
tianity. In his writings he said, “ There was a man, if it be lawful to call 
him a man,” etc., Josephus would not call him Christ, yet he could not 
deny but what he was superior to man. 

As to there being fifty- two different manuscripts, it might be possible, yet 
we cannot take it as positive. Those manuscripts were not so easy gotten in 
those days as we can get them at the present time. Suppose those churches 
each sent a delegate to get those manuscripts. And they got them as they 
could. If they were not all bound together at that time as they are now, 
and they could not get all of the writings, but each took such as he could 
get and went his way satisfied, would there be anything strange about that ? 
Would there be anything strange if Robert Ingersoll has found manuscripts 
that lack in having all of the sacred writings ? Has Mr. Ingersoll any valid 
reasons for saying that the New Testament was written through fraud, on 
any such grounds ? 

Next, he denies the first four books of the New Testament because they 
do not give their story word for word alike. Because Matthew wrote his 
book from what he saw, heard, or read, in the records ; because Mark wrote 
his book from what he saw, heard, or read, in the records ; because Luke 
and John did the same ; because they do not give their story word for word 
alike, he denies the whole, and says it is all a fraud. 

In his next lecture he speaks of Thomas Paine. Two girls in evidence 
tell their story word for word alike. He denies their words, and says it is 
impossible for them to have the same conversation. 

On page 10 of this lecture he says : — 

The next is Mark . . . . It is sufficient for me to say that Mark agrees sub- 
stantially with Matthew , that God will be merciful to the merciful , that he will 
be kind to the kind ; that he will pity the pitying. And it is precisely or sub- 
stantially the same as Matthew until I come to the 16th verse of the 16th chapter , 
and then an interpolation , hypocrisy. . . . Let me read it to you . . . 11 Go ye 
into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and 
is baptized shall be saved, and he that believeth not shall be damned. ” 

Mow, I propose to prove to you that that is an interpolation. Now how will 
I do it f In the first place , not one word is said about belief in Matthew. In 
the next place , not one word about belief in Mark, until I come to that verse, 

. ... the last conversation happening between Jesus Christ and his apostles . 
Matthew gives it. And yet Matthew does not state that in that conversation he 
said : 11 Whoso believeth and is baptized shall be saved: and whoso believeth not 
shall be damned. ” . . . . Christ never said it, .... and if he did say those 
words, they were the most important that ever fell from his lips. Matthew did 
not hear it, or did not believe it, or forgot it. 

Dear readers, our ministers go to extremes in telling us that every word 
of the New Testament was the inspiration of God, and that every word was 
perfect. Then unbelievers go to extremes in telling us that every word of 
the New Testament is a fraud, because they can find imperfect words ; because 


45 


EXTRACTS FROM INGERSOLL’s MISTAKES, ETC. 

they can select three verses and say, if God inspired the minds of Matthew, 
Mark, and Luke, those three verses should read word for word. 


There is some variation, and so un- 
believers tell us that they are all a fraud, 
whilst the preachers tell us that they are 
absolute perfection. 

Jesus taught us to use reason in all 
things, so let us use reason in studying 
the Bible. 

Some unbelievers tell us that Mat- 
thew, Mark, and Luke, were all telling 
the same. Matthew says that they 
brought little children to Jesus, for him 
to touch them and pray; Mark and Luke 
say nothing about praying. 


Matt. 19:13 “Then were there 
brought unto him little children, that 
he should put his hands on them and 
pray; and the disciples rebuked them.’’ 

Mark 10:13. “And they brought 
young children to him, that he should 
touch them ; and his disciples rebuked 
those that brought them.” 

Luke 18:15. “And they brought 
unto him also infants, that he would 
touch them : but when his disciples 
saw it, they rebuked them.” 


Matthew and Luke say that the disciples rebuked the children, whilst 
Mark says that the disciples rebuked those who brought the children. 
Skeptics say that Matthew and Mark tell us that they brought children to 
Jesus, whilst Luke tells us that they brought infants. 

Dear readers, I do not believe that every word of the New Testament was 
the inspiration of God, neither do I believe that it was gotten up by impos- 
tors, through fraud or deception, because they disagree in words. 

I believe that God made man in his own image, which is freedom of 
mind, and I believe that in writing those verses Matthew, Mark, and Luke 
were permitted to use that freedom. The words of Jesus, and the doings of 
others, inspired this verse into their minds, and then in the writing of those 
verses they were permitted to use that freedom of mind in which God 
created them. 

In the days of the apostles, and in this day, and in all other days, the 

minds of God’s children are inspired with godliness from God. And the 

minds of Satan’s children are inspired with devilishness from Satan ; for the 
minds of all sane persons are inspired, either by God or by Satan. But, 
when Satan inspires the mind with mischief and crime, the person is not 
compelled to commit the crime. Many a time the person thus inspired 
studies over the crime for a time, and then turns from it without trying to 
commit it. 

Leaders, this is seen every day in the year by some one. There is not a 
day that passes but what some child of Satan is inspired to commit some 
crime, but after studying upon it, he leaves it undone. No person is so 
bound by Satan that he has to commit those crimes ; but after being in- 
spired by the evil one, they are left to use that freedom in which God 

created them. 

Again, Christians are no more bound to do God’s will than sinners are 
bound to do Satan’s will. We are all created in that same freedom, and all 
are permitted to use that freedom through life. All the bonds that are on 
the human mind the mother gives, which is Jesus’ birth-mark (purity), or 
Cain’s birth-mark (corruption). When we see children that are mild. 


46 


HOW ARE WE LED? 


gentle, and kind, we often hear the remark made that the parents are of the 
same disposition. When we see children that are rude and unkind, we 
often hear it said that the mother was just the same when she was a child. 
The mother marks the disposition of the child. God inspires the mind with 
righteousness ; Satan inspires the mind with impurity, and then we are left 
in perfect liberty to act as we please. 

Frailty is weakness. Jesus said that the spirit is willing, but the flesh 
is weak. Righteousness is strength ; the more righteous the person, the 
stronger the mind. Yet there has never been one person recorded that was 
so strong, that was so pure, that was so righteous, and that was so free from 
human frailty, as the mind of Jesus. 

Dear reader, the apostles were not perfect, not so righteous, not so free 
from human frailty, as Jesus was. Though they were followers of Jesus, 
though they were inspired with righteousness, yet they were left in perfect 
freedom to work out their righteousness. And when our leaders teach the 
world that the apostles were possessed of frailty, but doing the best in 
their judgment and ability, then instead of making infidels, we will take 
infidels into our churches to become Christians, as Paul was taken in, and 
became a Christian. 

But we turn again to Mr. Ingersoll’s lectures, and we find him condemn- 
ing the New Testament because it is not addressed to any one or signed by 
any one. 

Page 4. Third Part. 

In the original the manuscript of the gospels are signed by nobody. The epis- 
tles are addressed to nobody ; and they are signed by the same person. All the 
addresses , all the pretended ear-marks showing to whom they are written , are 
simply interpolations , etc. 

Here the Colonel tries to deny the words of the New Testament because 
the writers did not sign their names as they went along, and address some 
particular person. He should remember that his book is addressed to no 
particular person, and is not signed by himself. I would like to ask, 
Where are the books that are passed out to the public that are addressed to 
any particular person, or signed by any person. 

(Page 5.) And let me say here , once for all , that for the man Christ I have 
infinite respect. ... let me say , once for all , to that great and serene man , I 
gladly pay the homage of my admiration and my tears. 

Why does Col. Ingersoll make this remark ? Because he is right where 
Josephus was. He will not call him God, neither will he call him the Son 
of God, yet he cannot deny but what he is superior to man. 

Dear readers, every human being is either the son of God, or the son of 
Satan, and wherein Jesus was superior to others is that He was the Son 
of God from his birth ; others are the adopted sons of God from their 
repentance or first resurrection. Yea, more than that ; not only the Son of 
God from his birth, but his undeveloped mind was marked before his birth, 
with purity, love, and kindness, which made it whiter than snow. 


EXTRACTS FROM INGERSOLL’s MISTAKES, ETC. 47 

Yes, Jesus was born in the image of God, the only one on record that 
was born in the full image of God. 

If he teas in fact God , he knew that there was no such thing as death. He 
knew that what we call death was but the eternal opening of the golden gates of 
everlasting joy. 

Death is only separation. When Jesus spoke about spiritual death, he 
was referring to the separation of the mind from godliness, but Mr. Ingersoll 
applies it to the separation of the breath from the body. Mr. I. often 
shows that the seed was sown in his heart for a talent, and he also shows 
that that seed sprang up and grew a talent ; but the thorns grew up also 
and choked it down. Though the Colonel tries to keep his talent hid, it is 
visible sometimes. 

If I have a soul, I want it saved. 

Our preachers do not tell Robert Ingersoll what his soul is but every 
human being that has a mind has a soul ; and if that mind enters into ever- 
lasting, unchangeable happiness, that • soul is saved. Ingersoll has a talent 
that must be saved, for Christ will have his own, and when he calls for his 
talent, then Mr. Ingersoll can see the death, the great separation, that Jesus 
was speaking about. 

What shall we do to be saved .... from the eternal wrath of God ? 

God has no wrath. As we make our bed, so we must lie. God must 
have his talent. If we have chosen to be Satan’s servants, he leaves our 
spirit with Satan. All the punishment that God inflicts upon man, is to 
separate the talent from the spirit, take his own, and leave what is not his 
own. The punishment that we have incurred for ourselves, we must reap at 
the harvest. As we make our bed, so we must lie. 

Ingersoll is not alone in denying the truth of the Bible. Others have 
asked me, ‘ ‘ Where did Cain get his wife ? ” The Bible tells us that God 
created Adam and Eve. The Bible does not tell us that God did not create 
any people but Adam and Eve ; and if we were to learn that God did create 
other people, aside from Adam and Eve, that would not contradict the Bible. 
The Bible does not tell every thing ; it only tells the transactions that peo- 
ple were interested in at that time. 

Again, the Bible tells us that Adam had three sons ; but it does not tell 
us that Adam raised only three children. If we were to learn that Adam 
raised more children than those three sons, that would be no contradiction 
to the Bible. The Bible tells us of all of Adam’s children that was brought 
into that line of subjects, and no more. Josephus’s history, on page 26, 
speaks of twenty-three daughters that Adam raised. This does not contra- 
dict the Bible ; but it shows that there were women on the earth so that 
Cain could get one for a wife. On page 27, Josephus tells us that Cain 
and his wife built a city. This does not contradict the Bible, yet it tells us 
something that the Bible does not tell us. 


48 


HOW ARE WE LED? 


The history of Josephus is not in the strictest sense a religious book, yet 
it sketches the records of the world, and tells us many things just as the 
Bible tells us, and many things on which the Bible is silent Josephus speaks 
of ; but he contradicts the Bible nowhere. 

But we turn back to Mr. Ingersoll’s book which is still treating on the 
teachings of Jesus. 

“ Whosoever shall forsake father and mother ” Why , he said to this man 
that asked him : u What shall I do to inherit eternal life ? ” among other things , 
he said : u Honor thy father and thy mother . ” And we turn over the page and 
he said : “ If you will desert your father and your mother you shall have eternal 
life. ” It won't do. If you will desert your wife and your little children , or 
your lands — the idea of putting a house and lot on equality with wife and chil- 
dren. Think of that / I do not accept the terms. I will never desert the one I 
love for the promise of any God. ’ 

How this mocker has changed the words of Jesus to cause young minds 
to detest the Scriptures. 


Let us read it from the Bible, and we 
find altogether a different sense from 
what Mr. Ingersoll has represented it. 

Ingersoll tells us that the Bible says 
if you will desert father and mother, etc. 

Mark tells us, there is no man that 
has left father and mother, etc. 


Mark 10:29. “And Jesus answered 
and said, Verily I say unto you, there is 
no man that hath left house, or brethren 
or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife 
or children, or lands, for my sake, and 
the gospel’s. 

Ver. 30. “But he shall receive a 
hundredfold .... and .... eternal 
life.” 


Then the boasting Colonel goes on to say that he will never desert 
the one he loves for the promise of any God. Mark does not speak of 
“ deserting.” Mark says, he that hath left .... for my sake and the 
gospel. 

I would like to say that Jesus was not talking to Ingersoll. When 
Jesus made this remark he was not talking to any one that could live a 
Christian life with their friends. I believe that if Mr. Ingersoll was to 
attempt to live a Christian life that he would not have to leave his wife or 
children. I believe that if Ingersoll would become a true Christian that his 
wife would also try to live a Christian life ; at least I believe that she would 
not ask him to leave her on that account. 

It was those whose friends or relatives would not permit to live a 
Christian life that Jesus was talking to when he made that remark. When 
I began to read the Bible my wife forbade my reading it. I slept alone, 
and would take my Bible into my room, and read it after she had gone to 
bed. She would get up and come to my room, and tell me if I did not lay 
aside my Bible she would report me as crazy But I still read the Bible, 
and as a result, I was reported crazy. My neighbors looked upon me as 
being insane. 

About this time a book called “ Ingersoll’s Mistakes ” was handed me to 
read ; when I read it I thought of answering it in writing. Another book 


49 


EXTRACTS FROM INGERSOLL’s MISTAKES, ETC. 

(a statement made by one C. S. Gitcbell, a minister of the gospel), was also 
handed me ; and after reading that book I determined to answer the two 
together. My wife forbade my writing. I was compelled to leave home. 
Yes, I was obliged to leave the very land I had helped pay for. I was com- 
pelled to leave the house that I had built with my own hands ; I was com- 
pelled to leave my wife, and my child, or give up my Bible studies. 
Reader, I left all for Christianity’s sake, and I feel that it was myself that 
Jesus was talking to, as is recorded in Mark 10 : 29, 30. 

Jesus never made this remark to those that could live a Christian life at 
home, with their friends. Jesus spoke this of those that were compelled to 
give up Christianity, or leave their friends. There are many other mysteri- 
ous things in the teachings of Jesus that could be plainly understood if 
applied to the right things. As I said, I was compelled to leave home or 
give up my Bible study : but I was soon taken home again, as a boarder, 
and permitted to write in peace; 

(Page 14.) God cannot afford to damn any man that is capable of pitying 
any body. 

For once Mr. I. is correct. God cannot afford to damn any one. He 
made man in his own image, in a state of freedom, free to act, free to 
think, free to choose for himself. If we choose devilishness (evil), we 
damn ourselves ; God damns no one. 

(Page 15.) “ Why,” they say to me , “ suppose all this should turn out to 

be true , and you should come to the day of judgment and find all these things to 
be true. What would you do then ? ” I would step up like a man and say , 1 
was mistaken. “ And suppose God was about to pass judgment on you, what 
would you say ?” I would say to him , “ Do unto others as you would that 
others should do unto you. ” 

When Robert Ingersoll breathes his last breath, God will call on him for 
the talent that he has kept hid so long ; that is all the judgment that God 
will ever place upon him. God will leave him to reap the reward of his own 
judgment. 

Mr. 1. in his fourth lecture treats on Thomas Paine’s works. We will 
now turn to the 126th page of that lecture. I could follow him through, 
from page to page, but his book is divided into four parts, with more than 
one hundred pages in each part ; and, in order to show his extreme unrea- 
sonableness, I feel it necessary only to sketch a few lines from each part. 
So we will begin now with the fourth part. 

(Page 126.) When Paine was born the world was religious , the pulpit was 
the real throne. 

The true facts are, when Paine was born man’s laws compelled the people 
to go to church and say that they were Christians when there was not a 
particle of Christianity in their heart. Yes, more than that, man’s laws 
compelled those that wanted to live Christian lives to live just as man’s laws 

4 


50 


HOW ARE WE LED? 


and customs said they should. The same down through the Dark Ages, as 
they were compelled to live a religious life when the Old Testament was 
written. But to-day we can thank God that our world has become so enlight- 
ened that we can see that man’s mind was created in perfect freedom ; and 
the main part of Christianity is in using that freedom of mind to the glory of 
the Creator. Every person must live the Christian life for himself. 

On page 129 of this lecture Mr. Ingersoll gives us some of man’s laws 
that compelled people to live an outward Christian life, when inwardly they 
possessed no Christianity whatever. 

(Page 129.) Be it enacted .... that if any person shall hereafter , 
within this province , willingly , maliciously , and advisedly , by writing or speak- 
ing , blaspheme or curse God , or deny God , or shall deny the Holy Trinity , the 
Father , Son, and Holy Ghost , or the Godhead of any of the three persons , or the 
unity of the Godhead , or shall utter any profane words concerning the Holy 
Trinity , or the person thereof and shall therefore be convicted by verdict , shall 
for the first offense , be bored through the tongue , and fined £ 20 , to be levied on 
his body. And for the second offense , the offender shall be stigmatized by burn- 
ing in the forehead the letter B, and fined £Jf). And that for the third offense , 
the offender shall suffer death without the benefit of clergy. The strange thing 
about this law is, that it has never been repealed , and was in force in the Dis- 
trict of Columbia up to 1875. 

Dear readers, let me ask, What has this law to do with the New Testa- 
ment teachings ? What has this law, or similar laws, to do with the teach- 
ings of Jesus, or his apostles ? Was not the teachings of Jesus and also of 
his apostles, strictly against the compulsory religious laws that were re- 
corded in the Old Testament : And because our people have made equally as 
bad laws, can we find fault with the teachings of Jesus for it ? 

We ought to thank God that our peo- Rev. 22: 18. If any man shall add 
pie cannot add their laws to the New unto these things, God shall add unto 
Testament as the Jews added to the Old him the plagues that are written in this 
Testament. book. 

The Roman and other nations have bound the teachings of Jesus and 
their national laws together, with creeds that they made themselves ; this 
was entirely contrary to the teachings of Jesus. And to-day the church 
that holds a creed to live by (aside from the Bible), binds God’s word, the 
teachings of Jesus, and the moral laws together, to a greater or less extent. 

Though those creeds are not put into the New Testament, they are just 
as unrighteous, just as disgraceful, and just as unreasonable, as the creeds 
of the Jews which were put into the Old Testament. And our ministers are 
no more justifiable in throwing aside God’s word on the account of the 
creeds and laws, that the Jews added to the Old Testament, than Ingersoll 
is in denying the teachings of Jesus on the account of the creeds and laws 
made during the Dark Ages. 

(Page 135.) Infidelity is liberty ; and superstition is slavery. 


51 


EXTRACTS FROM INGERSOLL’S MISTAKES, ETC. 


A true child of God has no anxiety about crime or wrong, therefore the 
body is at perfect liberty, without fear of either God or man, to do all that 
a true Christian mind may desire. While a son of Satan, or the son of man, 
that has no Christianity whatever, they are the ones that are held by the 
laws and the creeds ; they are the ones that are deprived of doing what the 
mind craves to do ; they are the ones that are in slavery, under the will of 
an evil mind, and the bonds of civil laws. It is not the true Christian that 
feels that he is held down in slavery. The ones that want to commit crimes, 
and dare not, are the ones that feel themselves in slavery. 

Thomas Paine was an infidel writer in an early day. And he was also a 
lover of strong drink. But Ingersoll, in speaking of Jesus, claims that 
everything that is said in favor of Jesus is false and a fraud. Then he 
turns right over to Thomas Paine, the drinking infidel writer, and everything 
that he finds said against Thomas Paine he regards as false and a fraud. 

Ingersoll disbelieves Matthew and Mark, not because Mark substantially 
agreed with Matthew in his first fifteen chapters, but because Matthew did 
not write in his book what Mark wrote in the 16th verse of the 16th chapter 
of his book. Then we turn over to the 129th page of Ingersoll’s fourth 
lecture, where two girls tell their stories alike about Thomas Paine. Then 
he says the same story was put into both of their mouths ; that it was im- 
possible for them to know and speak just the same things. 

(Page 129.) The next is Mary Hinsdale . ... to this young lady Paine 
.... said precisely the same that he did to Mary Roscoe , and she said the 
same thing to Mr. Paine. My own opinion is that Mary Roscoe and Mary Hins- 
dale are one and the same person, or the same story has been, by mistake , put in 
the mouths of both. It is not possible. 

Now let us turn back to the 11th page of his third lecture. 

Mark agrees , substantially , with Matthew, . . . until I come to the 16th 
verse of the 16th chapter. Now I propose to prove to gou that that is an inter- 
polation. Now how will I do it ? In the first place not one word is said about 
belief in Matthew. In the next place, not one word about belief in Mark until 
I come to that verse. . . . If he did say those words , they were the most im- 
portant that ever fell from his lips. Matthew did not hear it, or did not believe 
it, or forgot it. 


Dear reader, I will ask you to get your Bible and read. 


He said, not one word is said about 
belief in Matthew. 

He said, not one word is said about 
belief in Mark, until he came to the 16th 
verse of the 16th chapter. 

We find that Matthew speaks of this 
belief in four different verses. 

We find that Mark speaks of belief 
in four different verses before he comes 
to the 16th verse of the 16th chapter. 
Yet many of his readers believe every 
word that he tells them. 


Matt. 9 : 28. Believe ye that I am, 

etc. 

29. According to your belief. 

18 : 6. Which believe in me. 

21 : 32. That ye might believe. 
Mark 1 : 15. Repent ye and believe. 
5 : 34. Thy faith hath made thee 
whole. 

9 : 23. If thou canst believe. 

24. That believeth in me. 


52 


HOW ARE WE LED % 


He has been lecturing about Jesus and his apostles. I would like to 
ask you to remember that Jesus and those apostles are numbered with the 
past. Then we will turn back to the 148th page of his fourth lecture, and 
see what he says about 1 1 an honest drunkard being better than a calum- 
niator of the dead. We will also remember that Thorburn, the one that 
he calls a four foot and a half of a wretch, is numbered with the past. 

(Page 148.) Now Grant Thorburn — this gentleman who was 11 four feet 
and a half high . . . ” says that he used to sit nights at Carver’s, in New York, 
with Thomas Paine. 

(Page 149.) The Philadelphia Tract Society gave Thorburn $100 to write 
his 1 1 Recollections of Thomas Paine. ” Let us dispose of this four foot and a half 
of wretch. In October , 1877 I received the following letter from James Parton. 

Newburyport, Mass., Oct. 27, 1877. 

My Dear Sir : Touching Grant Thorburn , I personally know him to have 
been a liar. 

(Page 151.) After all, drinking is not as bad as lying. An honest drunk- 
ard is better than a calumniator of the dead. 

Robert Ingersoll was a colonel in the army. He led many poor boys into 
the jaws of mortal combat without the least terror whatever. If they 
gained the victory, his joy was so great over that victory that scarce any 
thought was given to the dead that lay on the battle ground. If they lost 
the field, his grief was so great over the defeat that still less was thought 
of the dead that was left behind. 

Hear readers, he led his followers into the battle without thought or 
care for either soul or body, and to-day he is leading his followers into the 
battle field (not a mortal, but a spiritual battle field), with less thought or 
care than before. He never meets with defeat, but always gains the victory, 
which fills his whole being with laughter, and gladness over his victory. 

Now I would like to ask, what is the victory that he gains at the present 
time ? It is your money that he is trying to gain, and when he gets the money, 
he gains the victory that he is working for. When he was leading the boys in 
the Civil War, our government furnished money to pay his followers for 
listening to and obeying his orders ; but in this Christian war his followers 
have to pay him their money for listening to and obeying his commands ; 
and he cares no more for the death that he causes than he did for the dead 
ones that he left behind him on the battle field in the late war. 

(Page 158.) Hove him ; Ilove every man who gave me, or helped to give 
me the liberty I enjoy to-night ; 1 love every man who helped me put our flag in 
heaven . 

Gentle reader, let me ask, does he love the soldier best that gave his last 
drop of blood for his country’s flag ? or does he love the one better that will 
attend his lectures and buy his books, and give him their money to sport 
upon ? I ask you to answer this question in your own minds : Which does 
Col. Ingersoll love the best ? His followers in blue that so dearly supported 


SPRINKLING OR IMMERSION. 


53 


our government, or his present followers that are so dearly supporting him 
to-day. 

I love every man who has lifted his voice in any age for liberty , for a chain- 
less body and a fetterless brain. 

It was Jesus and his followers who did this. Jesus came and taught 
the world how to live without feeling a bondage to the national laws. There 
is no person who tries to wholly live up to the teachings of Jesus, but what 
feels perfectly free to all that a Christian heart can desire. If any man 
feels a desire to torture, rob, or murder, his brother man, can Ingersoll say 
that that man is enjoying perfect liberty in committing these crimes ? Can 
Ingersoll say that he enjoys perfect liberty in keeping secreted from justice? 
Can Ingersoll say that he is enjoying perfect liberty in peeking through the 
grates to get a glimpse of sunlight, or a breath of fresh air ? I ask every 
reader, Who encounters the most annoyance from secretion, from deprivation 
of liberty ? When the mind is deprived of freedom, the body cannot enjoy 
perfect freedom. Mr. Ingersoll has quoted considerable scripture, and put 
a dark shade over it all ; but I will now leave it to his readers to examine 
the truthfulness of his work. 


CHAPTER IY. 

SPRINKLING OR IMMERSION. 

Brother W., one of our leaders, once asked me to give my opinion on sprinkling 
for baptizing. And as I began to search the Bible on sprinkling and immer- 
sion, I found many who objected to my reading the Old Testament ; but we 
will examine a few passages of scripture, both from the Old and the New Testa- 
ments. We will make this examination before taking up Elder Gitchell’s 
tract, in order to better prepare our minds as we pass through his little work. 

I will now quote a little scripture on a different subject from what we 
have just been considering in reviewing Col. Ingersoll’ s positions. I will 
select from all parts of the Bible, and use as few words as is possible in 
giving my ideas. The subjects that I will consider are sprinkling, washing, 
bathing, and baptizing. I will use no word in my quotation except it gives 
the same meaning where I use it that it gives where it stands in the Bible. 
Before making these scripture quotations, I will number every verse that 
I can find in the Bible that contains the word sprinkle, and will ask my 
readers to get their Bibles and study this word carefully, that they may see 
that I have not left out, or taken in, one word that will change the idea that 
I shall try to give. 

Ex. 9 : 8, 10 ; Heb. 9:13. Sprinkling of ashes. 

Lev. 7 : 2, 14 ; 14 : 7, 51 ; 16 : 14, 15 ; Heb. 9 : 13, 19, 21 ; 11 : 28 ; 
12 : 24. These verses tell us of the sprinkling of blood. 

Lev. 14 : 16, 27, tells us of the sprinkling of oil, and Job 2 : 12, tells us 
of the sprinkling of the dust. I will not quote any of the above verses, but 
ask the readers to look them over in their own Bibles. 


54 


SOW ARE W£ LED 5 


Num. 8:7; 19 : 13, 18, 19, 20, 21, are verses speaking of the sprink- 
ling of water. 

Isa. 52 : 15 ; Eze. 36 : 25 ; Heb. 10 : 22, I think were prophecies of the 
sprinkling of the spirit of Christ on many nations. These verses I shall use 
in my quotations, but only use as few texts as I can and give the sense of 
the word sprinkle, and complete the sentence in which I use it. 

When I use a part of a verse, and drop a part, and take up the same 
verse the second time, I will use marks of omission to show that some words 
are left out ; but when I omit a part of a verse, and go to another verse, I 
will not use periods. 

It appears that God created man in his own image, mild, quiet, peaceful, 
loving, kind, and in fact, religious in every particular, but man has strayed 
from the innocency of his creation. 

Our preachers teach us that God foresaw all things, even before the 
creation of the world. The Bible tells us that God created man in his own 
image. God is a great mind. Compare the mind of man with the minds of 
birds and beasts and we find that man is great. We have reason to believe 
that God is an everlasting mind. The same reason that we have for believ- 
ing that God created man in his own image, causes us to believe that man is 
everlasting ; and that same reason causes us to believe that God is a fore- 
looking, foreseeing, foreknowing mind ; and man is in the same image. 
Man looks ahead, sees ahead, plans ahead and brings his work to meet his 
•plans. But when our preachers tell us that God foresaw and foreknew all 
things before the creation of the earth, and when we see that man is not in 
the same image, it causes us to think that they are going to extremes ; it 
causes the honest thinker to become a disbeliever. 


Let us turn to the Bible and see if 
that teaches us that God foreknew all 
things before the creation of the earth. 

These verses tell us that man has 
strayed from the path in which God 
placed him. 


Gen. 6 : 5. And God saw the wicked- 
ness of man was great in the earth, and 
that every imagination of the thoughts 
of his heart was only evil continually. 

Verse 6. And it repented the Lord 
thai he had made man on earth. 


But after God had created man, and after Satan had stepped in and led 
man out of the path of righteousness, God again and again has tried to 
bring man back into that path. How has God sought to bring man back to 
him ? By the mind of God conversing with the mind of man. 

I am going to say here that God had foreknowledge. But I shall bring 
no proof of it, except that man be in the same image, and then I shall leave 
it for every reader to say for himself how nearly right this position is. I 
am going to say that God laid his plan ahead, and God’s plan was, that he 
would create man, and place him in the path of righteousness, and that he 
would have great enjoyment in man. But Satan stepped in, and took man 
out of God’s path of righteousness. Satan interfered with God’s plans. 
But to-day every person that walks in that path of righteousness will enter 
into that great enjoyment, just in accordance with God’s foreplanning, or 


55 


SPRINKLING OR IMMERSION. 

foreknowledge. But those that walk in Satan’s path, walk out of God’s 
foreplanning, and will remain out of God’s foreknowledge. And to-day 
man is in the same image of God in seeing ahead, and in planning ahead ; 
or you may call it foreknowledge. But when obstructions come in the way, 
his foresight is not complete, his avails do not meet his plans, and so his 
foreknowledge is void. 

When obstructions step into the foreplanning of man, he stands right 
where God did when Satan stepped in : his foreknowledge is cut off, and so 
is God’s foreknowledge with the sinner. But all that man can control, and 
bring into his foreplanning, comes into his foreknowledge. And all that 
God controls and brings into his path of righteousness, comes into God’s 
foreknowledge. The tree, the herb, the beast, the fowl, the fish, and in 
fact every object or thing except the mind of man, is limited, were limited 
and unchangable, excepting that man changes them through cultivation. 

Every object except the mind of man, stands in God’s planning ; every 
object except the mind of man meets God’s foreknowledge. But man was 
created in God’s image ; — in FREEDOM of MIND, to look ahead, to 
plan ahead, and to live according to his plans. But, as I said, God still 
endeavors to hold man in that path of perfect righteousness, in that path 
of God’s foreplanning or foreknowledge. How do we know that God is 
still trying to fetch man to his plans ? Because the mind of God talks to 
the mind of man, he tells us so. llow does he talk with man ? By inspir- 
ing the mind of man. Every thought that comes into the mind is inspired, 
either by God or by Satan. But thought is not imprinted in the mind in 
absolute perfection, it is left for man to use his judgment. 

God told Pharaoh that there would be seven copious years and seven 
years famine ; but Pharaoh had to call on some one more perfect than him- 
self to explain God’s word. God told Peter when on the house-top that he 
should call no man common or unclean ; yet Peter at first understood it not. 
But in all ages, both present and past, when God talks with man about 
spiritual things, man cannot understand without earthly objects to look at. 


Now, as I believe the Bible to be 
God’s talk, or rather, as I believe the 
substance of the Bible to have been in- 
spired in the mind of man, and then 
man was left to use that freedom in 
forming God’s inspiration into words 
and subjects, and to place it in the 
Bible, therefore I shall quote from the 
Bible and feel that I am quoting God’s 
word. 


This washing, cleansing, and purify- 
ing, is for spiritual cleansing. Also, the 
putting of the sins upon the scapegoat 
and the burning of the heifer, were for 
the cleansing of the spirit. 


Lev. 14 : 8. He that is to be cleansed 
shall . . . wash himself in water. 

Ver. 9. He shall wash his flesh in 
water, and he shall be clean. 

Chap. 16 : 3. Thus shall Aaron come 
into the holy place ; 

Yer. 4. He shall put on the holy 
linen coat, and he shall have the linen 
breeches upon his flesh, and shall be 
girded with a linen girdle, and with the 
linen miter shall he be attired ; these 
are holy garments; therefore shall 
he wash his flesh in water, and so put 
them on. 


56 


HOW ARE WE LED £ 


Many of our Christian people feel 
above reading or thinking on this way 
of showing their religious thoughts. 
But I feel that those doings were only an 
outward sign to show to the world that 
they were trying to live in God’s fore- 
planning ; and our preaching and sing- 
ing and ways of worship to-day, are also 
outward evidences to show to the world 
that we are trying to live in God’s fore- 
planning, just the same. 


Jesus said, “If you are ashamed to 
own me before men I will be ashamed 
to own you before God.’’ 

A man that is ashamed to show to the 
world that he is trying to live a religious 
life, is no Christian. And because we 
have become more enlightened, and 
have a better way of showing in our 
outward acts, our purposes of heart, I 
see no reason for casting God’s word 
aside. 

When I read the New Testament, I 
see that Jesus and his apostles opened 
and taught the Scriptures on the Sab- 
bath days even before the New Testa- 
ment was printed. 

As I said, God talks with man, but 
not as we talk. Therefore when God 
talked about cleansing the spirit to pre- 
pare it for heaven, people thought that 
they must be washed in water. And as 
they could not wash the spirit in water, 
they washed the body. And they washed 
the body every time they thought the 
spirit had become foul. 

Aaron had to wash his flesh to cleanse 
his spirit, before he could put on the 
holy garments. They knew that they 
must get rid of their sins, and they 
thought that they could lay them on the 
head of a goat, and let him bear them 
away ; but after the goat had borne 
away their sins they must bathe in 
water. 


Ver. 5. And he shall take of the 
congregation of the children of Israel 
two kids of the goats for a sin offering. 

Ver. 7. And he shall take the two 
goats and present them before the Lord. 

Ver. 8. And Aaron shall cast lots 
upon the two goats ; one lot for the 
Lord, and the other lot for the scape- 
goat. 

Ver. 10. The scapegoat shall be 
presented alive before the Lord, to make 
an atonement with him, and to let him 
go for a scapegoat into the wilderness. 

Ver. 20. And when he hath made 
an end of reconciling, the holy place, 
... he shall bring the live goat, 

Ver. 21. And Aaron shall lay both 
his hands upon the head of the live 
goat, and confess over him all the in- 
iquities of the children of Israel, and 
all their transgressions in all their sins, 
putting them upon the head of the goat, 
and shall send him away by the hand of 
a fit man into the wilderness : 

Ver. 23. And Aaron (ver. 24) shall 
wash his flesh in water. 

Ver. 26. And he that let go the 
goat for the scapegoat, shall . . . bathe 
his flesh in water. 

Chap. 17 : 16. But if he wash them 
not, nor bathe his flesh, then he shall 
bear his iniquities. 

Chap. 22 : 6. And shall not eat of 
the holy things, unless he wash his 
flesh in water. 

Num. 8 : 7. And this shalt thou do 
unto them, to cleanse them : sprinkle 
water of purification upon them, and let 
them wash all their flesh. 

Chap. 19 : 2. Bring thee a red heifer 
without spot, wherein is no blemish, 
and upon which never came yoke. 

Ver. 3. And ye shall give her unto 
Eleazar the priest, . . . and one shall 
slay her before his face. 

Ver. 5. And one shall burn the 
heifer in his sight. 

Ver. 6. And the priest shall take 
cedar wood, and hyssop, and scarlet, 
and cast it into the midst of the burn- 
ing of the heifer. 

Ver. 7. Then the priest shall . . . 
bathe his flesh in water. 

Ver. 8. And he that burneth her 
shall . . . bathe his flesh in water. 


SPRINKLING OR IMMERSION. 


They thought that to burn a heifer, 
and to sprinkle the sinful persons with 
her ashes and water, would rid them of 
their sins ; but after doing thus, they 
must bathe in water. 


When Aaron confessed the sins of an- 
other over the head of a goat, it defiled 
his spirit, and he must wash his flesh in 
water. The one that led the goat to the 
wilderness defiled his spirit, and must 
bathe his flesh in water. And if they 
washed not, they must bear their in- 
iquities. 


Ver. 17. And for an unclean person 
they shall take of the ashes of the burnt 
heifer of purification for sin, and run- 
ning water shall be put thereto in a 
vessel. 

Ver. 18. And a clean person shall 
take hyssop, and dip it in the water, 
and sprinkle it upon . . . the person. 

Ver. 19. And the clean person shall 
sprinkle upon the unclean on the third 
day, and on the seventh day : and on the 
seventh day he shall purify himself, 
.... and bathe himself in water. 

Prov. 30 : 12. There is a generation 
that are pure in their own eyes, and yet 
is not washed. 


In some cases they must sprinkle the unclean person with the ashes and 
water three times in order to cleanse the spirit, yet on the seventh day he 
must bathe his flesh in water. The one that did the sprinkling must bathe 
himself in water. The one that burned the heifer must bathe his flesh in 
water. The priest that looked on and saw the heifer burn must wash his 
flesh in water. And in fact, for each and every thing, and after sprinkling, 
they must bathe their flesh in water. 

It appears that God inspires the minds of all his children with righteous- 
ness, but those that are the most anxious for religious knowledge receive 
the greatest inspiration. To those who are the most pure in heart, to those 
that try the hardest to walk in God’s foreordained path, God talks the 
plainest. 


Now we come to Isaiah, one who 
tried to walk in God’s path. God talked 
to him so plainly that he became a 
prophet, and talked as though it was 
God himself who was talking. 

Then he goes on to prophesy how 
that Christ shall sprinkle many nations 
with Christianity. Then Jeremiah the 
prophet tells us to wash away the filth 
of our spirits. 


Isa. 1 : 16. Wash you, make you 
clean ; put away the evil of your doings 
from before mine eyes ; cease to do evil. 

Chap. 4 : 4. When the Lord shall 
have washed away the filth of the 
daughters of Zion, ... by the spirit of 
judgment and by the spirit of burning. 

Jer. 4 : 14. O Jerusalem, wash thine 
heart from wickedness, that thou mayest 
be saved. How long shall thy vain 
thoughts lodge within thee ? 


In those days they did truly sprinkle the water and ashes of the burnt 
heifer upon the body to cleanse the spirit ; but after each sprinkling they 
must bathe their flesh in water, or bear their iniquities. I cannot see why 
we should not immerse in order to wash away our sins. Bathing, or wash- 
ing, which is immersion, was practiced in the Old Testament times. But 
yet we do not find it there as a direct command of God ; it appears to be a 
tradition of man. I believe that it was inspired by God, in the minds of the 


58 


HOW ARE WE LED? 


righteous, and practiced by all the religious people ; yet, I cannot find 
where God directly commanded it, I only find it as a tradition of man. As 
we come down to later times, to these men of God, the prophets, we find 
that they recommended this holy washing for the purification of sin. 


They also tell us of the sprinkling 
of Christianity in many nations. And 
Ezekiel speaking as it were God, says, 
“For I will take you from among the 
heathen, and gather you out of all coun- 
tries.” 

Now we have searched the Old Testa- 
ment and have found righteous people. 
We found that Abram made a covenant 
with God, that he would walk in God’s 
path, and live a religious life, and God 
changed his name, and called him re- 
ligious. 


Isa. 52 : 15. So shall he sprinkle 
many nations ; the kings shall shut 
their mouths at him. 

Eze. 36 : 24. For I will take you 
from among the heathen, and gather 
you out of all countries. 

Ver. 25. Then will I sprinkle clean 
water upon you, and ye shall be clean : 
from all your filthiness, and from all 
your idols, will I cleanse you. 

Ver. 26. A new heart also will I give 
you, and a new spirit will I put within 
you ; and I will take away the stony 
heart out of your flesh, and I will give 
you a heart of flesh. 


The name that God gave him, to show that he was religious or a child of 
God, was Abraham. And there were many righteous people after Abraham 
that walked in God’s path, but none ever took on that same religious name. 
Then we find that Jacob made a covenant with God, and agreed also to walk 
in his path of righteousness ; and God also gave him a religious name, — 
Israel. We find many righteous people after Jacob, who walked in God’s 
path, and took on that religious name, — Israel. We find that those people 
who lived that kind of religion were the ones that God talked with, though 
many, who possessed no religion whatever, tried to take on that religious 
name, and were called Israelites. 

We find in the Old Testament that those people who were trying to walk 
in God’s path, who were trying to live that kind of religion, who were bear- 
ing that religious name, were the ones that adopted this sprinkling and bath- 
ing to wash away their sins. But the bearers of that religious name, the 
washers of that religious washing, became so corrupt that they disgraced the 
name, and it was cast aside. 


We now come down to the New Testa- 
ment, and there we find John the Bap- 
tist calling people to walk in the path 
of that very same God ; to walk in that 
very same path of righteousness. And 
we find John teaching the very same 
doctrine, — the washing away of the 
sins. 

But the old name had been disgraced, 
so John taught the same doctrine, but 
gave it a new name. He called it bap- 
tism for the remission of sins. 


Matt. 3:1. In those days came John 
the Baptist. 

Yer. 5. Then went out to him . . . 
all the region round about Judea, 

Ver. 6. And were baptized of him 
in Jordan, confessing their sins. 

Ver. 11. I indeed baptize you with 
water unto repentance. 

Ver 13. Then cometh Jesus from 
Galilee to Jordan unto John, to be bap- 
tized. 

Ver. 16. And Jesus, when he was 
baptized, went up straightway out of 
the water. 


SPRINKLING OR IMMERSION. 


59 


Not only John teaches us to follow the Israelitic example of this right- 
eous washing, but Jesus also followed the example. 


And [he] said, Suffer it to be so now, 
to fulfil all righteousness. 


And we find that John went down 
into the river Jordan to baptize. 

And Jesus also went down into the 
river Jordan, and came up out of the 
water. 

Some of our preachers tell us that 
the river Jordan is so deep that it is 
impossible to go into it to be bap- 
tized ; but they have forgotten that it 
has been washing deeper for over 1800 
years. 

They also tell us that there were 
three thousand added to the church in 
one day, and that it was impossible to 
immerse that many in one day. 


Matt. 3 : 15. Thus it becometh us to 
fulfil all righteousness. 

Mark 1 : 4. John did baptize. 

Yer. 5. And there went out unto 
him . . . and were all baptized of him 
in the river of Jordan, confessing their 
sins. 

Yer 9. And . . . Jesus came . . . 
and was baptized of John in Jordan. 

Yer. 10. And straightway coming 
up out of the water. 

John 3 : 23. And John also was bap- 
tizing in Enon . . . because there was 
much water there. 

Chap. 4 : 1. Jesus made and bap- 
tized more disciples than John. 

Yer. 2. Jesus baptized not, but his 
disciples. 

Acts 8 : 36. Here is water, what doth 
hinder me to be baptized ? 

Ver. 38. And he commanded the 
chariot to stand still : and they went 
down both into the water . . . and he 
baptized him. 


But Jesus was making more disciples than John. John made disciples, 
but Jesus made more than John did, and the disciples did the baptizing. 
There could have been more than one thousand disciples doing the baptiz- 
ing on the day of Pentecost. But there is one thing sure, they went into 
the water, in the River Jordan, where Jesus came up out of the water. 
Also in Enon there was much water. Philip and the eunuch both went 
down into the water. 

The ministers of the different churches widely disagree on baptism. 
Some are satisfied with sprinkling alone for baptism, whilst others hold 
strictly to immersion. We do not find it to be a direct command of God, 
but a tradition of man, inspired in man as a righteous act. 


It was an inspiration from God to 
Moses, telling him to wash Aaron before 
putting on the holy garments. (It is the 
same inspiration which tells our minis- 
ters to have their converts washed be- 
fore they receive the Holy Spirit.) This 
righteous act was instituted in the days 
of Moses. And Jesus asks permission to 
fulfil it. “Suffer it to be so now, for 
thus it becomes us to fulfil all righteous- 
ness.’ 1 


Ex. 29 : 4. And Aaron and his sons 
thou shalt bring . . . and shalt wash 
them with water. 

Ver. 5. And thou shalt take the 
garments, and put upon Aaron and his 
sons. 

Matt. 3 : 13. Then cometh Jesus . . . 
to be baptized. 

Ver. 15. And . . . said . . . suffer it 
to be so now : for thus it becometh us 
to fulfil all righteousness. 


60 


HOW ARE WE LED? 


The apostles also taught us to fulfil 
that righteous ordinance instituted in 
the days of Moses. Philip and the 
eunuch both went down into the water, 
to wash the flesh of the eunuch, that his 
iniquities should not be upon him. 

Paul in his letter to the Ephesians 
said, One God and one baptism. 


Eph. 4 : 5. One Lord, one Father, 
one baptism. 

Ver. 6. One God, one Father of all. 
Gal. 8 : 29. And if ye be Christ’s, 
then are ye Abraham’s seed. 


In his letter to the Galatians he said : “If ye be Christ’s, then are ye 
Abraham’s seed.” 

Now some one says, If you are going John 13: 10. He that is washed 
to take the old Mosaic way for baptizing, needeth not save to wash his feet, 
why not wash your flesh every time that 
you do a wrong ? 

Jesus says to me, and he says to you, and he says to all, If you have 
been washed, you need no more washing, save to wash your feet. 

This mortal washing is only a pattern of the spiritual washing. There 
are but few people who can see spiritual objects without having mortal ob- 
jects to look at. The mortal washing is of no avail, but the spiritual wash- 
ing is. Make your spirit clean, and keep It clean. This is what the Bible 
teaches. 

I understand the words of Jesus thus : If my body has been immersed, 
I need no more washing except to wash my feet. If my spirit has been 
washed, it needs no more washing except to wash its feet. Lord, make my 
spirit clean, and help me to walk in the path of righteousness. 

If I find my feet trampling down my neighbor’s corn, through malice, 
I am walking out of the path of righteousness ; my feet are dirty. I need 
to wash my feet. If I find my hands stealing my neighbor’s grain, I am 
walking outside of the path of righteousness ; my feet are dirty ; they need 
to be washed. If I find my tongue slandering my neighbor, I am walking 
outside of the path of righteousness ; my feet are still dirty ; they should 
be washed. If I have been washed, I need no more washing, except to 
wash my feet. I must keep my feet clean. If I walk outside of the path 
of righteousness, I must shake the dust from my feet, and get back again. 
If I keep the feet of my spirit clean from all those little base acts, my spirit 
needs no more washing. 


EXAMINATION OP GITCHELL’S TRACT. 


61 


CHAPTER V. 

The Seventh-day Sabbath. 


EXTRACTS FROM A STATEMENT MADE BY C. S. GITCHELL, 

MINISTER OF THE GOSPEL. 

In examining this tract we find that Elder Gitchell has as greatly exaggerated as 

Mr. Ingersoll, though Elder G. is a minister of the gospel, and working for his 

particular cause. 

C. S. Gitchell, a minister of the gospel, has published a tract, or treatise, 
on the Sabbath day. What church or denomination he belongs to is more 
than I know. As for myself, I experienced religion two years ago, and 
have only attended the Campbellite, or Christian church, since that time. I 
have studied the Bible, both the Old Testament and the New. At our class- 
meetings I have expressed the ideas that I have gained from studying the 
Bible. Some of my brethren have objected to my stating in the church the 
ideas that I have derived from the Old Testament. 

This little tract of Elder Gitchell’ s was handed me to study, and since 
studying it in comparison with the Bible, I feel inclined to show my views 
to the world. And by what I have learned from Elder Gitchell’s tract, and 
from the Bible, some may call me an Adventist, though I never heard an 
Adventist preacher speak in my life, and know nothing about them more 
than what I have learned from this tract. But I feel it my duty, and I 
shall try to show to the world what I have found in the Bible. 

In my quotations from the Bible I will use four periods thus (....), 
denoting an omission where I leave out a part of a verse, and take up the 
same verse the second time. When I have quoted a part of a verse, I will 
not use those dots unless I take up the same verse the second time. 

I will put all my quotations from Elder Gitchell’s tract in italic letters, 

and place them in the left hand column. I have asked Brother W , our 

leader, at different times, to interview Elder Gitchell’s tract with me. He 
never refused to do so, but he never got time ; so I asked him some ques- 
tions which he answered. I wrote the questions and his answers down, and 

took them to Elder H , one of the best learned preachers that we have 

in our community. 

Before entering into Elder Gitchell’ s tract, I will give you my conversa- 
tion with Elder H , to show you the Jewish way of counting, from the 

days of Moses until after the crucifixion of Jesus. I will now quote some 
scripture that we used in our conversation. 


62 


HOW ARE WE LED? 


I will first say that I am a justice of 
the peace, and I have to give the defend- 
ant three days’ notice before I can hold 
a trial ; and I will show the reader the 
difference between three days that we 
count now, and the Jewish three days 
that Jesus was in the tomb. 

As Elder H was a lawyer before 

he began to preach, he knew how the 
law allows us to count three days. 

The Bible shows us how the Jews 
counted the three days that Jesus was 
in the tomb. The day Jesus was put 
into the tomb, if he had been taken in 
and right out again, he was in the tomb 
on that day, and that day counted one. 
And the day that he came out of the 
tomb, if he was only in there an hour, 
he was in the tomb on that day, and 
that day counted one. So he was in 
the tomb on Friday, on Saturday, and 
on Sunday, which made three days. 


Mark 15 : 42. And now when the even 
was come, because it was the prepara- 
tion, that is, the day before the Sabbath. 

43. Joseph .... came .... unto 
Pilate, and craved the body of Jesus. 

45. And .... he gave the body to 
Joseph. 

46. And he ... . laid him in a sep- 
ulcher. 

Chap. 16 : 1. And when the Sabbath 
was passed, Mary Magdalene .... 
bought sweet spices that they might 
anoint him. 

2. And very early in the morning, 
the first day of the week, they came 
unto the sepulcher at the rising of the 
sun. 

5. And .... they saw a young 
man. 

6. And he said unto them, He is 
risen. 

7. Go your way, tell his disciples. 


So I first asked Elder H. , if a man is sued before me I must give him 
three days’ notice before he can be brought to trial. 

Ques. If complaint is entered at three o’clock Friday afternoon, how 
soon can I hold trial and give the defendant three days’ notice ? 

Ans. Saturday is one, Sunday is two, and Monday is three. At three 
o’clock Monday afternoon, or 72 hours. 

Ques. How is it, then, that Jesus was laid in the tomb at three o’clock 
on Friday afternoon, and came out on Sunday before sunrise, and called it 
three days ? 

Ans. They did not count then as we count now. 

I asked Brother W. some questions also. I have them written down, 
and I want you to tell me if his answers are right. My first question to 
nim w^s : — 

Ques. When was Jesus laid in the tomb ? 

Ans. Friday about three o’clock. 

Ques. When did he come out of the tomb ? 

Ans. Sunday morning before sunrise. 

Ques. How then did they say that he was in the tomb three days ? 

Ans. They did not count then as we count now ; the day he was put in 
and the day he came out were both counted. 

Ques. Hid he come out of the tomb at the last hour of the day ? 

Ans. He came out before sunrise in the morning ; but if he was in the 
tomb one hour, he was in it on that day, and it was counted one day. 

Ques. Why is it, then, that if we bring suit against a man on Monday, 
that we cannot hold trial on Wednesday ? 

Ans. Tney counted the first and the last day , our laws will not let us 
count the first day. 


63 


EXAMINATION OF GITCHELl’s TRACT. 

Ques. Did they always count the first and the last ? 

Ans. I suppose that they did. 

Ques. Then was Friday counted twice ? was it counted as the last day 
of the life of Jesus ? as he was alive more than one hour on that day. 

Ans. Yes, Friday was the last day of the life of Christ, and it was also 
the first day that he was in the tomb. 

Ques. Then was Friday counted twice ? 

Ans. Yes. 

Ques. Was Sunday counted as the last day that Jesus was in the tomb ? 

Ans. Yes. 

Ques. He came out of the tomb before sunrise Sunday morning ; he was 
on his feet all that day ; was Sunday counted as one of the forty days that 
Jesus was on earth after his resurrection ? 

Ans. Yes, certainly. 

Ques. Then as Sunday was counted as the first of the forty days, was 
the sixth Thursday counted as the last of the forty days ? 

Ans. Yes, it counts out that way. 

Ques. Then did Jesus ascend to heaven on Thursday ? 

Ans. Yes. 

Elder H. took my paper and looked it over and said, Yes, Brother W.’s 
answers are correct. 

As Elder H. had been a lawyer in Chicago, 111., also had been prin- 
cipal in the public schools in that city, before he turned his attention to 
preaching, and also being a well-read preacher, now drawing $1000 a year, 
as salary, I thought that his opinion was the best that I could get, so I 
asked him still more questions. 

Ques. Then in the first chapter of Matthew was Jechonias counted 
twice ? 


Elder H. got his Bible and read the 
17th verse. After he had read this verse, 
he went back to the second verse of this 
chapter and counted the generations, 
counting Abraham as the first genera- 
tion, and Jechonias as the last genera- 
tion before they were carried away into 
Babylon ; counting from the second to 
the eleventh verses. 

After reading the eleventh verse and 
saying that Jechonias is counted as the 
last generation before they were carried 
away into Babylon, he goes on to read 
from the twelfth to the sixteenth verses, 
and says, Jechonias is counted as the 
first generation, after they were carried 
away into Babylon, and Jesus was 
counted as the last generation. 

Then he answered my question. Yes, 
said he, Jechonias was counted twice. 


Matt. 1:17. So all the generations 
from Abraham to David are fourteen 
generations ; and all the generations 
from David until the carrying away into 
Babylon are fourteen generations ; and 
from the carrying away into Babylon 
unto Christ are fourteen generations. 


11. And Josias begat Jechonias and 
his brethren about the time they were 
carried away to Babylon. 


12. And after they were brought 
to Babylon, Jechonias begat Salathiel. 


16. And Jacob begat Joseph the 
husband of Mar}% of whom was born 
Jesus. 


64 


HOW AfcE WE LED? 


Then I asked him,— 

Ques. After Jesus came out of the 
tomb, was the sixth Thursday counted 
twice ? was it counted as the last day of 
the forty that he was on earth, when he 
led the disciples out as far as Bethany? 
Was it counted as the first day that he 
was in heaven? 

He led them out as far as Bethany, 
and was parted from them and received 
up into heaven. 


Luke 24 : 50. And he led them out 
as far as to Bethany. 


51. And . . . was parted from them, 
and received up into heaven. 


Was Thursday counted as the first one of those ten days that you spoke 
of in your sermon the other day, when you stated that Jesus was in heaven 
before he administered the Holy Ghost ? 

Ans. I suppose Thursday was counted twice. 

Said I, if Thursday was counted twice, I have one more question to ask 
you. I have heard you say, at different times in your sermons, that our 
forefathers have been taught that this creed or that creed is right, and that 
it was hard to get that idea out of their head. 

Ques. If I show you wherein you are wrong, can that idea be got out 
of your head ? 

Ans. Yes, if you will convince me. 

At that I left him, but the next Thursday night he visited our prayer- 
meeting. He got up to speak and said that he enjoyed my conversation 
very well, but all should be on their guard to avoid strife. I thought this 
had something to do with Brother W., who could not get time to examine 
Elder Gitchell’s tract with me, so after waiting a long time I interviewed it 
alone. 

Whilst I was waiting on Brother W. for this interview, I asked him some 
more questions, which I will give to my readers before going into Elder 
Gitchell’s tract. 

When Tommy, a little school boy at school, once thought that his moth- 
er’s word was contradicted he remarked, “I don’t care whether it is so or 
not; if ma says so, it is so, anyhow.” I asked Brother W. if that was not 
the case with the Scripture ? 

Ques. If the preachers give us something, and tell us that it is scrip- 
ture, it is scripture whether it is in the Bible or not ? 

Ans. I guess some think so. 

Ques. Then if our preachers tell us that the ten commandments are 
abolished, dead, and laid aside, it is so whether the Bible tells us so or not 

He did not answer this question, but the next week he preached a ser 
mon to the whole congregation, telling them that it was fulfilled, abolished, 
dead, and done away. 

My next question to Brother W. was, — 

Ques. How many different names has our earthly parent ? 

Ans. Half a dozen or more, as father, pap, dad, parent, pa, sire, etc. 

Ques. Is it swearing to say, By Jesus Christ ? 


Examination of gitcheli^s tracI’. 


05 


Ans. Yes , read Ex. 20 : 7. “Thou slialt not take the name of the 
Lord thy God in vain.” (You see that he pointed me to the ten command- 
ments.) 

Ques. Is Jesus Christ God ? 

Ans. Yes. Read St. John 10 : 30. “ I and my Father are one.” 

Ques. How many different names has God ? 

Ans. Christ, God, Lord, Heavenly Father, Jehovah, Omnipotent, and 
Almighty. We can find more names for our Heavenly Parent than we can 
for our earthly parent. 

Ques. If God tells us what to do, and Christ tells us to do differently, 
which shall we obey, Christ or God ? 

Ans. Christ won’t change what God tells us to do, for Christ is God. 

Now, dear readers, this preacher has told me three times that Christ is 
God, and he also told me that Christ did not, nor would not, countermand 
God’s commands. And all the ministers will tell us the same, if we go at 
them in the same way ; for God is a great Spirit, more than flesh and blood 
can bear ; and Christ is a part of that same Spirit, yet no more than the 
flesh and blood of Jesus did bear, and no person can be one of Christ’s 
children without their flesh and blood bears a part of God’s Spirit. I agree 
with all the preachers when they say that there is not one word in the New 
Testament to show that Jesus countermanded God’s commands. 

Shortly after I asked Brother W. those questions, Brother M. held a 
protracted meeting at our schoolhouse, and staid at our house the most of 
the time. I asked him those same questions. He had learned that I had 
an object in view, and so he would not answer a single question. 

One day he was trying to explain, — by using a parable, — how we 
should have faith. He said that if God was to tell us to go into the field 
and plow, and plant corn, we would have faith in getting a crop. I asked 
him if God was to tell us to plow and plant our corn, and Jesus would come 
and tell us to plant our corn without plowing the ground, which shall we 
obey? His answer was, ‘ { God, of course. ” 

Hear reader, that was the very question I wanted him to answer. I 
asked Brother W. six questions to get him to answer that one. I asked 
Brother M. the same six questions, and he would not answer one of them. 
Now he answers that very- question in order to explain his own points, and 
he says if Jesus countermands God’s commands, obey God of course. 

Having brought these matters before the reader, I am now ready alone 
to examine Elder Gitchell’s tract. As the Elder claims that he has positive 
proof that Sunday is the right day for the Sabbath, we will go through his 
book and examine his proofs. I will also present the proofs that I have 
found while studying the Bible by myself alone, in investigating this subject. 
After we have examined Elder G. ’s positive proof, and after I have shown 
what I have found in the Bible, I will ask the question, — 

Ques. What day of the week was Christ’s Sabbath ? 

Ans. Let every person read and think for himself ; be deceived by no 
one. We will open the Gitchell tract and first examine the preface. 

5 


66 


HOW ARE WE LED? 


(Page 3.) This small treatise on the Sabbath is presented to the public because of 
certain persons , claiming to be Christian ministers , traveling through the land endeavoring 
to introduce the seventh-day Sabbath as obligatory upon the Christian world. 

Here Brother Gitchell uses the words, “ claiming to be Christian minis- 
ters,” thus giving the idea that they are impostors, when perhaps they are 
more true at heart than he is. 

They claim and state that the various denominations have no foundation upon which 
to build the first-day Sabbath. 

I make the same statement, and will go to the Bible to examine their 
foundation. 

This production is prepared to refute their claims. 

The men that he insinuates are impostors, are acting in good faith, and 
trying to build up the cause of Christ. 

Gitchell in making this last statement says plainly that he is trying to 
refute their claims, which are teaching the people to follow the teachings of 
Jesus, and so become true Christians. 

Elder G. says, — 

It is founded entirely upon scripture. 

Can his statement be founded entirely upon scripture, if the scripture be 
changed so as to read just as he may' want, solely to mislead the minds of 
his readers ? 

Give it a caref ul perusal. 

This I have done, perusing his tract with care, and will show the result 
to the world. 

Facts we are after. 

We will examine his facts, his positive proofs. 

(Page 4.) We have nothing in the word of God to warrant the statement that, in the 
beginning of the human race, every seventh day was to be used as a celebration day to 
commemorate the creation. 

I agree with Elder Gitchell in this statement. And when he tells us that 
God gave the Sabbath for the commemoration of creation, I will call the 
reader’s attention to this statement on page 4 of his tract. 

(Page 5.) Man steps in, the masterpiece of all creation, with a nature like unto God. 

But man did not continue in his primeval innocence. 

Here the Elder agrees with me that man was created in the image of God. 

Adam and Eve were created with a spirit as pure as the spirit of Jesus, 
but they entered into the first death, which cut them off from being the true 
sons of God. 

His intellect became impaired, and he would fain hide from the omniscient God. 

His mind became disobedient to God’s commands. And he (his mind) 
would separate from the sight of God. 

The mind alone is all the man that God generally talks to. The spir- 
itual death is the death that God mostly talked about; though Moses seemed 
to apply God’s meaning to mortal death. 


EXAMINATION OF GITCHELL’s TRACT. 


67 


His mind was degraded and filled zoith impurity. 

This degraded impurity is spiritual death. 

His physical system zoas greatly paralyzed, and subject to pains, fevers, and turbulent 
disorders. 

Here Elder Gitchell is much mistaken ; God made two separate laws or 
paths. He made a spiritual law, or path of righteousness; and the penalty 
for violating this spiritual law, the penalty for walking out of this path of 
righteousness, is spiritual death. That spiritual death is all the punishment 
that God inflicts upon man for walking outside of the path of righteousness, 
man fixes his own punishment; as we make our bed so must we lie. 

God made a physical law, or path of nature; and the penalties for vio- 
lating this physical law, the penalties for walking outside of this path of 
nature, are those pains, fevers, and turbulent disorders that Elder G. 
speaks of. They are inflicted for violating the law of nature, not for vio- 
lating the law of righteousness. 

(Page 6.) Two thousand five hundred and thirteen years from creation , God by 
commandment, gave to the children of Israel a Sabbath day, but this Sabbath ivas given 
to no other nation. 

To this statement I agree with the Elder and will endeavor to hold him 
to it; though he will contradict this and many other of his statements as he 
goes on. 

You may call them a nation or a church, or whatever you please; they 
are God’s children just the same, and he gave them, and them alone, his 
Sabbath, though we find many of those children of God or righteous people 
outside of the Jews. 

The Sabbath day was given by command of God to his adopted children, 
and to every person that wants to be a child of God, let him be found where 
he may. 


With moral laws, the same as Con- 
stantine made alter Jesus was crucified, 
Moses bound both Israelite and l^po- 
crite to obey God's commands as a na- 
tion. But God does not bind any man. 
If one wants to serve God, and walk with 
God, he is free to do so. If a man wants 
to serve Satan [with God], he has that 
same freedom. God takes his children 
wherever he finds them, one or more in 
a place. 


Again the Elder says : — 


Isa. 02 :2. And the Gentiles shall 
see thy righteousness, and all kings thy 
glory : and thou shalt be called by a new 
name, 

Chap. 65 : 15. And ye shall leave 
your name for a curse unto my chosen : 

Gal. 3 : 21). And if ye be Christ’s, 
then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs 
according to the promise. 

Lev. 19 : 34. The stranger that 
dwelleth with you shall be unto you as 
one born among you, and thou shalt 
love him as thyself ; 


(Page 7.) And God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it; because that in it he 
had rested from all his work which God created and made, and was refreshed, Gen. 4 ? : 3. 

Here he quotes the third verse of the second chapter of Genesis. He 
put a semicolon in the middle of the verse, where the Bible has a colon, he 
puts a comma at the end of the verse, where the Bible has a period. 


68 


HOW ARE WE LED \ 


And more than this, he adds three words to the verse which are not found 
in the whole chapter. He is going to prove to his readers by the Bible (after 
he fixes the Bible to suit himself) anything that he may want to prove. 


By reading Ex. 81 : 13, we find that 
God gave the Sabbath to be a sign be- 
tween him and his children, whom God 
called righteous, or Israelites. 


Ex 31 : 13. Verily my Sabbath ye 
shall keep : for it is a sign between me 
and you. 


At that time there was just as much difference between the Jew and the 
religious person as there was during the Dark Ages between the Boman and 
the Christian. 362 years after Jesus was crucified, Constantine passed a law 
that every Boman should be a Catholic, but that did not make them all re- 
ligious. Neither did Moses’ law compelling all Jews to be Israelites make 
them all righteous. They did not understand why Jacob was called Israel, 
and we do not all understand why Jesus was called Christ. The law com- 
pelling the Bomans to become church members did not make them Chris- 
tians. 


(Page 12.) As soon as Israel had con- 
sumed their provision and were entirely 
dependent on the Lord, then preparations 
icere made which introduced the first sab- 
bath ever kept by any of the descendants of 
Adam. 


Ex, 16 : 13. And it came to pass, that 
at even the quails came up, and covered 
the camp : and in the morning the dew 
lay round about the host. 

Verse 15. And when the children of 
Israel saw it, they said one to another, 
it is manna. 


Now I call your attention to the fact that Saturday was past when the 
quails came. Twelve hours later the manna lay upon the ground. Bemem- 
ber that the quails came in the evening, and the manna was on the ground 
on the following morning; so that the children could not have hunted quails all 
day, the day before the manna came. 


Elder Gitchell is going to tell us that 
those lambs were killed in the after- 
noon, on Friday ; but the Bible tells us 
that they were killed in the evening. 

The 5th, 8th, 13th, 19th, 23rd, and 
31st verses of the first chapter of Genesis 
tell us that the evening was the begin- 
ning of the day. 

The lambs were killed in the evening 
of the fourteenth day of the first month. 


Ex. 12 : 2. This month shall be unto 
you the beginning of months: it shall 
be the first month of the year to you. 

Ver. 3. In the tenth day of this 
month they shall take ... a lamb. 

Ver. 6. And they shall keep it un- 
til the fourteenth day of the same 
month : and . . . kill it in the even- 
ing. 

Gen. 1 : 5. And the evening and the 
morning were the first day. See Gen. 
1 : 5, 8, 13, 19, 23, 31. 


The supper was eaten at midnight on the fourteenth day of the first 
month, and they took their departure in the morning of the fourteenth day 
of that month 


EXAMINATION OF GITCHELL’s TRACT. 


69 


The Bible tells us that they killed 
the lambs in the evening. The Jewish 
custom at that time, and ever since, 
and to-day, is to begin their day at sun- 
down. 

Gitchell has also told us that he will 
prove his statements with positive proof 
from the Scriptures. We will watch 
the Bible for this proof. 


Elder Gitchell will tell us that the 
lambs were killed on the same day of 
the year, the same day of the week, and 
the same hour of the day, that Jesus 
was crucified, which was Friday after- 
noon about three o’clock. The Bible 
tells us that the lambs were killed in 
the evening. 

But we will allow Elder G. for the 
present to say that the lambs were killed 
on Friday afternoon, the fourteenth day 
of the month, and that the Jews took 
their flight on the fifteenth day of the 
first month. 

The first verse of the sixteenth chap- 
ter tells us that they took their journey 
from Elim on the fifteenth day of the 
second month, and the first verse of the 
nineteenth chapter tells us that in the 
third month on the same day, they 
landed in the wilderness of Sinai. 

The Jewish month is a moon, a 
period of twenty-nine and a half days. 
They left Egypt on the fourteenth day 
of the first month, and they left Elim on 
the fifteenth day of the second month. 
And in the third' month on the same day, 
which would be the fifteenth, they came 
into the wilderness of Sinai. Thus mak- 
ing two months and one day, or sixty 
days, the closest count that we can 
make and take the Bible for it. 

Now allowing Gitchell that they 
killed the lambs on Friday, which the 
Bible tells us that they killed on the 
fourteenth day of the first month ; allow- 
ing this month to have only twenty-nine 
days, thus giving Elder Gitchell the 
advantage of one day there, they came 
to the wilderness of Sin on the fifteenth 
day of the second month, which must 
have been on Sunday ; thus spending 
five Saturdays in their journey. 


Ex. 12 : 11. And thus shall ye eat 
it ; with your loins girded, your shoes 
on your feet, and your staff in your 
hand. 

Ver. 37. And the children of Israej. 
journeyed. 

Ver. 39. Because they were thrust 
out of Egypt. 

Chap. 16: 1. And they took their 
journey from Elim . . . unto the wil- 
derness of Sin, ... on the fifteenth day 
of the second month after their depar- 
ture out of the land of Egypt. 

2. And the whole congregation of 
the children of Israel murmured against 
Moses and against Aaron in the wilder- 
ness. 

4. Then said the Lord unto Moses, 
behold, I will rain bread from heaven 
unto you. 

8. And Moses said, This shall be, 
when the Lord shall give you in the 
evening flesh to eat, and in the morning 
bread to thy fill. 

13. And it came to pass, that at 
even the quails came up . . . and in 
the morning the dew lay round about. 

15. And . . . they said ... it is 
manna. 

22. And it came to pass, that on the 
sixth day they gathered twice as much 
bread. 

23. And he said . . . to-morrow is 
the rest of the holy Sabbath unto the 
Lord. 

Ex. 19 : 1. In the third month, . . . 
the same day, came they into the wil- 
derness of Sinai. 

2. And there Israel camped before 
the mount. 

3. And Moses went up unto God. 

10. And the Lord said unto Moses, 
go unto the people, and sanctify them 
to-day and to-morrow, 

11. For the third day the Lord will 
come down in the sight of all the people 
upon mount Sinai. 

16. And it came to pass on the third 
day 

17. Moses brought forth the people 
... to meet with God. 

18. And Mount Sinai was altogether 
on a smoke, because the Lord descended 
upon it in fire. 


HOW ARE WE LED? 


70 


After spending five Saturdays, after 
arriving in the Wilderness of Sin, they 
murmured, and God promised them 
bread. After the sixth Saturday had 
passed, and the evening had come, the 
quails came, and the manna was found 
in the morning. 


Ex. 20: 1. And God spake all these 
words saying, 

3. Thou shalt have no other Gods 
before me. 

4. Thou shalt not make unto thee 
any graven image. 

7. Thou shalt not take the name of 
the Lord thy God in vain. 

8. Remember the Sabbath day, to 
keep it holy. 

12. Honor thy father and thy mother. 

13. Thou shalt not kill. 

14. Thou shalt not commit adultery. 

15. Thou shalt not steal. 

16. Thou shalt not bear false witness. 

17. Thou shalt not covet. 


Six days later, or the seventh Saturday of their journey, was the forty- 
fourth day of their journey, and the first Sabbath kept. The seventh Sat- 
urday was the forty-fourth day of their journey, the first Sabbath kept, and 
the sixth day after the quails came. The quails came after the sixth Sat- 
urday was past. 


The first verse of the nineteenth chapter tells us that they camped near 
Mount Sinai on the fifteenth day of the third month, which from the closest 
count that we can make from the Bible, gives us two months and one day, 
or sixty days, — twenty-nine days in one month, and thirty in the other. 

After they had camped before Mount Sinai, Moses went up unto the 
Lord. G-od told him to go down and sanctify the children of Israel and on 
the third day God would give his commands. Allowing the Jewish way of 
counting, those three days were only two. Thus from the closest count that 
can be found in the Bible, there were sixty-two days from the slaying of the 
lambs unto the giving of the commandments on Mount Sinai. Allowing 
Elder Gitehell’s position to be true, that the lambs were slain on Friday, 
the closest account that can be produced from the Bible is that the law was 
given amid the fire and smoke on Mount Sinai on Wednesday. Shall we 
believe the Bible or shall we believe Elder G. ? 


Allowing the Elder to be right, the lambs were slain on Friday, and 
thirty-eight days from that time the first quails came in the evening, and 
the first manna was found in the morning, and forty-four days from that 
time the first Sabbath was kept as a sign between God and his righteous 
people. Sixty-two days from that time, the commandments were given on 
Mount Sinai. Elder Gitchell tells us that his positive proof is scripture, 
and he is a preacher, so if he says it is scripture, it is so whether it is 
so or not ! 


(Page 15.) The time had now come when God would covenant with Israel and bring 
them under a government of law. . . . 

As it had been before them more than a month and the keeping of the Sabbath was 
practised probably four weeks , 


EXAMINATION OP GITCIIELL’s TRACT. 


71 


(Page 51.) The first Sabbath spoken of is the one introduced after the manna had 
fallen six days. 

Had there been a Sabbath regularly kept , then seven days before the one here spoken of, 
would have been a sacred day ; 

But the Israelites were hunting and killing quail all that day. 

He says, £ ' It had been before them more than a month.” On his twelfth 
page he told us that when they had consumed all their provisions, they be- 
came dependent upon God, and were ready to come to God's terms ; then the 
first Sabbath was introduced. 

He tells us here it has been more than a month, and that the Sabbath 
had been kept probably four weeks. We remember that the first Sabbath 
was kept on the forty-fourth day, and this law is given on the sixty-second 
day, eighteen days later. Is that more than a month, or four weeks ? Then 
on the 51st page he turns right around -and tells us that they were hunting 
and killing quails all the seventh day before this Sabbath, while Ex. 16:13 
tells us that the quails had not come until after that day had passed. 

But he is excusable for telling this, for he is proving some other point 
in his argument just now. This is his positive proof. On p. 15 he tells us 
that they keep this day holy ; on p. 51 he tells us that they were killing 
quails on this day ; but the Bible tells us that the quails had not come on 
this day. Which shall we believe ? 

(Page 13.) Ex. 16 : 23. Bake that which ye will bake to-day, and seethe that ye will 
seethe , 

In the quoting of this verse he uses a comma instead of a colon. Some 
may say, What is the difference which he points it off with ? 

If there is no difference, why does he not use the point that is in the 
Bible. I will write a sentence now and point it off with exclamation points. 
I will write it a second time and use the very same words, but point it off 
differently, and we will see that it has altogether a different meaning. 

A landlord, running a combined saloon and barber-shop used this sen- 
tence for a sign over his door. A customer paying no attention to the 
points read it thus : — 

‘ ‘ What do you think, I will shave you for nothing, and give you a 
drink.” 

The customer understood it that he could get a shave and a drink free. 
The landlord read it in a tone of surprise : — 

‘ 1 What ! do you think I will shave you for nothing ! and give you a 
drink ! 

Then the customer could understand the use of different punctuation 
points in print. And Elder G. understands the difference ; at least he 
changes them all through his quotations. If he does not understand the 
difference, why does he not use them just as they are used in the Bible ? 
It must be either carelessness or ignorance surely that he changes the points 
and leaves out or puts in words that suit his taste, 


HOW ARE WE LED ? 


' /w 

i LA 


(Page 18.) Having proven by Scripture , and in various ways , no Sabbath was 

given or kept for two thousand five hundred and thirteen years from the creation ; etc. 

He says, “ Having proven by Scripture.” He has not shown his proof, 
neither has he shown us where to find it. 

The Bible tells us that there was a Sabbath given to the Israelites. But 
it does not tell us that there never was one given before. It is silent on 
that point. The Bible tells us that Adam had three sons, but it does not 
tell us that these three sons were all that he had ; it is silent on that. 
Josephus tells us that Adam and Eve had thirty-three sons. I ask, How 
can Elder Gitchell get scripture proof where the Bible is silent, and not one 
word is written? 


(Page 18.) also, showing conclusively that the first Sabbath was given only to the 
children of Israel. 

Gitchell is showing conclusively from a page in the Bible that is silent on 
that point ! 


His conclusive proof is naught, but 
still 1 agree with him. The Sabbath 
was given only to the children of Israel, 
but what is Israel ? 


Ex. 12:38. And a mixed multitude 
went up also with them ; 

Isa. 56 : 2. Blessed is the man that 
doeth this . . . that keepeth the Sab- 
bath from polluting it, and keepeth his 
hand from doing any evil. 


Israel is one of those names given by 
our Heavenly Father. The children of 
Israel are, the children of God. The 
children of Christ are the very same 
children of God, and under this “new 
name that shall not be cut off.” 


Isa. 62 : 2. And thou shalt be called 
by a new name. 

Chap. 56:5. I will give them an 
everlasting name, that shall not be cut 
off. 

Gal. 3:29. And if ye be Christ’s, 
then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs 
according to the promise. 

John 5 : 43. I am come in my 
Father’s name. 


Elder Gitchell seems to give the idea that the children of Israel are 
bound exclusively to the seed of Jacob. 

God has many names ; more names than our earthly parent. The first 
one of God’s names that he gave to man, that is on record, was given to one 
alone (Abram), and he wore it (Abraham). He is the only person on record 
that ever took that religious name. The second one of God’s names as re- 
corded, which he gave to man, was given to Jacob (Israel). Jacob’s whole 
family took his religious name, and finally a great nation grew into that 
religious name, and a mixed multitude went with them, and the strangers 
were invited to come and share with them. All true Israelites were God’s 
children, but the hypocrites were not. 

The third one of God’s names, given to man, as recorded in the Bible, was 
given to Jesus (Christ). And the stranger is -again invited to take on that 
new name, and become one of God’s children. But the hypocrite is not ac- 
cepted. God’s Sabbath was given to God’s children. 


EXAMINATION OE gitciiell’s tract. 


73 


(Page 18.) Now I will prove that this covenant , this law containing the Sabbath, is 
done away, abolished, dead, and that another covenant is given which embraces all 
mankind. 

Will lie prove it by Scripture that is silent ? or will he change the words 
of Jesus and his apostles so as to prove it that way ? 

I claim that the religious name (Israel) is done away. That name is 
gone, and a new name has taken its place that will last forever, which em- 
braces all of God’s children regardless of nation or birth. But as for the 
covenant, God’s part of that covenant he wrote on an enduring material 
(stone), and it will last forever with all that will covenant with God. 

(Page 18.) 2 Cor. 3: 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13. Our sufficiency is of God, who hath 
made us able ministers, of the New Testament {covenant), not of the letter, but of the spirit ! 

Here Elder Gitchell tells us that he will quote the Scripture from eight 
different verses in 2 Corinthians, third chapter. He begins with five words 
that are not found in the whole eight verses. 


He places a comma after those five words, and begins the sixth verse 
with a small letter, and leaves the second word of this verse out entirely, and 
places nothing to show that a word has been left out. 

When he comes to the words New 2 Cor. 3 : C. Who also made us able 
Testament he uses curves and puts in ministers of the New Testament ; not of 
the word “ covenant,” as much as to say the letter, but of the spirit, 
that Paul called it covenant. 


Can he make his readers believe that the New Testament is a bargain 
between those readers and the great God ? Dear readers, if there is ever a 
bargain made between you and God, you have got to make it yourself. You 
cannot go to heaven on any bargain that Jesus made. God created man in 
the path of righteousness, and if he could not hold man in that righteous 
path, why should we expect that Jesus could hold us there ? 

We have got to do that ourselves. We cannot go to heaven on Gitchell’s 
new covenant, but we must make our own covenant, and the New Testament 
will teach us how to make it, and how to live up to it after w r e have made it. 

Our preachers all tell us that the New Testament is the new covenant of 
Jesus Christ, and that all that we have to do is to believe that Jesus Christ 
is the Son of God, and be baptized. I tell 3^011 that you have got to believe 
that you are in the first death, and unless 3 T ou repent and make your own 
covenant with God, and try to live up to that covenant, }'ou will never gain 
heaven. 

Our preachers tell us that Jesus Christ is the mediator between God and 
man, and that we must ask Christ to intercede for us ; that if we can just 
get Jesus to take us in on his blood that is all that we need to work for. I 
say that Christ is God, that you have got to work for yourselves. You have 
got to make up your mind just what you think that 3 T ou ought to do to get 
to heaven, and then go to God’s own handwriting which he wrote with his 
own finger in stone ; that is God’s part of the bargain. Then go to God in 


74 


HOW ARE WE LEO S 


prayer, and promise him you will make such a bargain with him, and live 
up to it. Then you have a covenant of your own. 

Then go to the teachings of Jesus, and he will tell you how to live up to 
your covenant. You cannot find one word of a bargain in Matthew, Mark, 
Luke, or John ; but } t ou will find in the teachings of Jesus how to live up 
to your own covenant. Neither will you find one word of a bargain or cove- 
nant in the apostles’ writings, for they, also, were trying to teach us how to 
make our own covenant, and how to live up to it, after you have made it. 


CHAPTER VI. 

REVIEW OF ELDER GITCHELL’s SABBATH ARGUMENTS. 

( Continued .) 

When our preachers tell us that the New Testament is Jesus’ covenant, 
they are a little off. The man that robs or steals from his neighbor is not 
living up to any covenant of his own with God. Neither has Jesus made 
any covenant with God that he will take that man to heaven on account of 
good prayers to Jesus. The man that deludes or defrauds, even by chang- 
ing the words of the Bible, for deceptive purposes, or to deceive in any 
other way, he is not living up to any covenant made with God ; neither has 
Jesus made a covenant with God, that God shall take that man into heaven 
on account of good prayers made to Jesus. 

Dear readers, we have got to act, as well as to pray to Jesus. Our 
deeds will go farther than our prayers. Jesus has made no covenant with 
God to take the infidel into heaven without any regard to humanity. No, 
Jesus has made no covenant for any of those men ; neither has he made any 
more of a covenant for you and me than he has for those men. No, Jesus 
made no more of a covenant for me than he made for Robert Ingersoll. 
Jesus left Robert Ingersoll and me on equal footing. But Satan has 
put more obstructions in Robert Ingersoll’s path than he has in mine ; and 
if Mr. Ingersoll accepts them, he must accept the punishment for them. 

As you make your bed, so you must lie. The New Testament is the 
teachings of Jesus, and better teachings never were read ; but there is no 
covenant in it. Moses’ teachings with most everybody are abolished and 
laid aside on the account of foulness, not because Jesus fulfilled their right- 
eousness. The righteousness in the Old Testament is just as sacred to-day 
with God, with Israel, and with Christ, as it was with Jesus when he ful- 
filled that righteousness. 

That righteousness stands open to- Matt. 3 : 15. It becometh us to fulfil 
day for you and I to fulfil the same as all righteousness. 

Jesus fulfilled it. 


StJNDAY-SABBATH REASONS CONSIDERED. 


75 


He says, “It becomes us to fulfil all righteousness f He did not saj', it 
becomes me to fulfil all righteousness. And the righteousness that Jesus 
spoke of was as old as creation. Did Jesus make a covenant 1900 years 
ago that Robert Ingersoll should be cast into hell, and that you and I 
should be taken to heaven ? No, he made no such covenant. Did Jesus 
make a covenant with God that he should put things in my path that 
would bring me to righteousness, and that he should put things in Mr. 
Ingersoll’s path that would drive him from righteousness ? No, he made 
no such a covenant as that. What kind of a covenant did Jesus make with 
God ? He made a covenant with God that he would be God’s servant in 
this world, and perfectly represent God’s character ; that he would obey 
God’s word, and that he would teach others also to follow his example. 
And the New Testament sets forth his teachings. 


Jesus taught in the synagogues on 
the Sabbath ; he taught us the Scrip- 
tures, and he told us to search the Scrip- 
tures. 

What were those Scriptures ? This 
was before the New Testament was 
written. 

w hen I began to read the Scriptures, 
I began to pray to God to give me knowl- 
edge. 


Luke 13 : 10. And he was teaching 
in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. 

Chap. 24 : 27. He expounded unto 
them in all the Scriptures. 

Yer. 32. While he opened to us the 
Scriptures ? 

Yer. 45. Then opened he their un- 
derstanding, that they might under- 
stand the Scriptures. 

John 5 : 39. Search the Scriptures 


Then he opened my understanding that I might understand the Scrip- 
tures. But the Lord told me first that I must go one hundred and fifty 
miles and I would find a lamp that would give me light. It was the first 
thing that I ever thought God told me to do, and I obeyed it. I went there 
and received that light. Then I fully determined to do this writing. 

Yes, I verily believe that actions go farther than prayers in living a 
Christian life. I pray to God to help me to act a Christian life, and he 
answers my prayers. Though I do n’t believe that I have got to knuckle 
down and be trampled upon by the sons of Satan because I am trying to be 
a son of God. If I feel that I am going aright, and that the sons of Satan 
are trying to trample upon me, and injure me by misconduct or slurs, I feel 
it my duty to go straight ahead, without notice of their doings. If they collect 
together and overpower me, and compel me to suffer their trampling, we have 
a civil law that will punish them. If they cunningly contrive to evade civil 
law, my only refuge is to pray to God to help me, and he always answers 
my prayers. 

What do I pray for ? Do I pray for God to take me out of the way of 
my invaders ? No, God created me in his own moral image (freedom), and 
he now leaves me in that freedom of mind to act as I please. I am free to 
flee from my troubles, or I am free to stay among them. 

Do I pray to God to inflict fevers, pains, and torments on the bodies of 
my invaders ? No, God never punishes the flesh and blood because the spirit 
is walking outside of the path of righteousness. 


Y6 


HOW ARE WE LEDf 


Do I pray to God to make the spirit or my invaders insane because they 
upbraid me ? No, God made that spirit in his own image (perfection). 
When a mind is insane, it is outside of perfection ; it is outside of God’s 
image. God never made, a spirit in his own image, and then drove it out- 
side of his image ; he does not do that. It is Satan that takes the spirit out 
of God’s image and casts it into insanity. God is perfection ; Satan is im- 
perfection. 

Then what do I pray for ? I pray to God and he answers my prayers. 

I pray to Christ, the Father, for John 5:43. I am come in my Father’s 
Christ is the name of God. name. 

I pray to God to give me willingness, courage, and strength, to not 
worry over my invader’s upbraiding, but to enjoy myself at all hazards ; 
and God gives me that strength and that enjo3 r ment. 

First. I try to pass my intruders by without yielding to them, and 
without anger in my heart. 

Second . I apply to civil law when advisable. 

Third. I appeal to God for strength and enjoyment. 

But w r e left Elder Gitchell in the first eight verses of Second Corinthians, 
third chapter, and left him putting in an exclamation point where the Bible 
puts in a colon (:). 

Then he goes on : — 

(Page 18.) But if the ministration of death written and engraved in stone was glori- 
ous . . . which was to be done away, 

I ask, my dear readers, what is to be 
done away ? Brother Gitchell tells us 
that the engraving on the stone was to 
be done away, while the Bible tells us 
that the glory was to be done away. 

Get vour Bible and see for yourselves, 
how that he has changed the pauses 
in this verse, and misrepresented the 
words. 

If he preaches the truth as crookedly as he quotes the Scripture, what is 
he doing ? Making infidels, not Christians. He has left out twenty words, 
and put in dots (....) to show that they were left out. Then he 
has left out one more word ( “glory ” ) without putting down a dot, and that 
word changes the whole meaning of the verse. 

(Page 3.) They muddle up the minds of many conscientious people This 

production is prepared to refute their claims. 

On page 3 in his preface, in speaking of certain persons claiming to be 
Christian ministers, he says; “ They muddle up the minds of many conscien- 
tious people.” 

Let us take this from those claiming to be Christian ministers, and apply 
it to those whom we know are deceivers. In his quotation on page 18, he 


2 Cor. 3 : 7. But if the ministration 
of death, written and engraven in stone, 
was glorious, so that the children of 
Israel could not steadfastly behold the 
face of Moses for the glory of his counte- 
nance ; which glory was to be done away ; 


3UNDAY-SABBATH REASONS CONSIDERED. 


77 


intended that his readers should conceive the idea that Paul said that God 
in his own handwriting wrote on the stone, on the lasting material, that he 
told Moses should last forever. Elder Gitchell intended that his readers 
should conceive the idea that Paul in the (New Testament) said that God’s 
own handwriting on the stone was done away. An important difference ! 

Dear readers, do not think that I am saying anything against Christianity. 
I am speaking against those deceivers who are leading the people astray. 
I have been taught that there are things in the Bible which are not in the 
Bible, and I must show this deception. When ministers preach the truth, 
and preach it in the Spirit as Jesus preached, then Christianity will appear 
in its glory. 

Dear readers, as you can see, I am no scholar. My whole country knows 
that I am nothing but a clodhopper, a rustic. If there is any light in this 
writing, God has given it. But give me the truth, even though it be from 
an ignorant person. 

Next, Elder Gitchell gives us some question's, and he answers them. I 
ask my readers to treat his answers as you do mine. They are only his 
opinions ; read and judge for yourselves ; and let your judgment be your 
answer. 

(Page 19.) Now 1 ask, what is it that is done away with ? The law written in stone 
that ministered death to the violator. What is abolished f That law given on Sinai, 

His answer to those questions is, “ that law written on stone,” meaning 
the ten commandments. The 7th verse that he has just quoted tells us as plain 
as words can tell, that it was the glory that Paul was speaking of. Not 
alluding, but he spoke plainly. Gitchell left out merely the word “ glory,” 
and falsely said “writing.” 

(Page 19.) Rom. 7 : 1-7. Know ye not, brethren, for I speak to them who know the 
law, how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he {the law) liveth. For the 
woman which hath a husband is bound by the law to her husband, as long as he {the hus- 
band) liveth. 

Here he quotes Paul’s writing to the Romans, Chap. 7:1. This verse 
ends with the word liveth ; followed by an interrogation point, denoting that 
it is a question. He leaves off the interrogation point and places there a 
period, thus denoting that it is a positive fact. 

This verse has nine parenthetical words in it. He leaves the parentheses 
off those words, and adds four words to this verse, and places curves around 
those four words. 

v Those verses tell us that the law has dominion over man as long as man 
liveth. Gitchell’s quotations tell us that the law has dominion over man 
even after man is dead, and as long as the law liveth. The first and second 
verses of this chapter uses the word “he” instead of the word “man.” 
Once Gitchell converts this word (he) into the word (law), and once he con- 
verts it into (man). If Paul intended the word he for man in one place, he 
intended it for man in both places. How is this ? The law has dominion 
over man as long as the law liveth ; after the law ceases to live it still has 
dominion over the woman’s husband as long as the husband liveth. I be- 
lieve the word does not apply to the law in either place. 


78 


HOW ARE WK LED? 


(Page 19.) But if her husband be Rom. 7 : 3. But if her husband be 
dead , she is loosed from the law of her hus- dead, she is free from that law. 
band. 

How is this ? Is this scripture proof ? You say that he is only explain- 
ing the scripture. Does such explanations give positive proof ? You say, 
I see no difference. Let me say that if there is no difference, why not give 
it word for word as it is found in the Bible ? If there is a difference he 
has made that difference in his favor. 

(Page 20.) What shall ice say then — . Rom. 7 : 7. What shall we saj^ then ? 

is the law sin? God forbid'. Now I had is the law sin ? God forbid. Nay. 
not known sin , etc. 

In this verse Paul asks two questions ; in Elde^ Gitchell’s quotation we 
find but one question. Paul’s answer is, Nay : with a comma after it. But 
Elder Gitchell leaves the word “Nay” and comma both out, and puts in 
the word (Now) without any pause whatever. 

Paul’s first question ends with an interrogation point ; his second ques- 
tion begins with a capital letter. Gitchell leaves out the interrogation point 
and uses a dash and a small letter. Paul’s third remark ends in a calm 
manner with a period. Gitchell ends it with an exclamation point, and 
with a tone of surprise. 

I ask the reader, Is this scripture proof ? 

(Page 21.) Behold the days come , saith the Lord , that I will make a covenant with 
the house of Israel, etc. 

This verse was written by Jeremiah the prophet. Gitchell has quoted 
this verse for positive proof, that God’s word written on the stone was dead 
and done away. 

God told Jeremiah something, I can’t say now just what, but Jeremiah 
was taught, as all others were taught, that the whole Jewish nation were 
Israelites ; and when God talked to him he had to apply the Lord’s words 
to what was in his knowledge ; for no person can understand spiritual things 
without earthly things to look at. Moses’ teachings taught Jeremiah that 
all Jews were Israelites, but I have said that Moses’ teachings are not 
perfect. I have said that all people are more or less possessed of human 
frailty : but I am justifiable in saying so : others have said it before me. 

(Page 23.) The mediator and law-giver of the old, was Moses of the tribe of Levi a 
man of human f railty. 

Let us turn to page 23 of this little tract, and see what Gitchell has said. 
Elder G. has said (before I did), that one of our Bible writers was imperfect. 

I persume that Gitchell, and many others, are as Col. Ingersoll was with 
Thomas Paine. Every word that they can find against Moses is positive 
proof that Moses was frail, and every word that they can find in favor of 
Paul, is positive proof that Paul was perfect. And the person that 
charges frailty against Paul, is a four foot and a half, more or less, of a 
wretch, as iDgersoll said. 


SUNDAY'S ABB ATH REASONS CONSIDERED. 


79 


But Jeremiah was taught that the 
whole Jewish tribe were Israelites. 
And he was also taught that they had 
to be compelled by civil laws to be Is- 
raelites, or religious. But Jesus taught 
us that those that had to be compelled 
by civil laws, or church rules, laws, or 
creeds to be Israelites, were not Chris- 
tians or religious. 


Jer. 31:33. But this shall be the 
covenant that I will make .... saith 
the Lord, I will put my law in their in- 
ward parts, and write it in their hearts. 


But God told Jeremiah that they must make new covenants. Jer. 31 : 33. 
But his human teachings and his human frailty would not permit him to 
teach us how to make this new covenant. But Jesus came and gave us 
that teaching. It shall be written in the hearts, not written in the New 
Testament. Was not that also the teachings of the apostles ? Jeremiah 
said that a new covenant should be made with the house of Israel. This is 
generally confined to the Jews, but the Jews do not accept the New 
Testament. 


(Page 120.) Behold the days come, 
saith the Lord, that I will make a new cove- 
nant with the house of Israel. .... Not 
according to the covenant that I made with 
their fathers, in the day I took them by the 
hand to lead them out of the land of bond- 
age. For this is the covenant that I will 
make with the house of Israel after those 
days, saith the Lord; I icill put my laws 
in their minds, and write them in their 
hearts, etc. 


Heb. 8 : 8. Behold the days come, 
saith the Lord, when I will make a new 
covenant with the house of Israel and 
with the house of Judah. 

Ver. 9. Not according to the cove- 
nant that I made with their fathers, in 
the day when I took them by the hand 
to lead them out of the land of Egypt ; 
because they continued not in my cove- 
nant, and I regarded them not, saith the 
Lord. 

Ver. 10. For this is the covenant 
that I will make with the house of Israel 
after those days, saith the Lord ; I will 
put my laws in their mind, and write 
them in their hearts. 


In this 8th verse Elder Gitchell has changed one word, and farther down 
he has left out six words, but he placed four dots there to show that he has 
left them out. In this 9th verse he has left out the same word (when) that 
he left out of the 8th verse, and changed the word Egypt to bondage. He 
also left out the next fifteen words, without dots or stars to show that one 
letter is left out. 

On the very next page Elder G. quotes the very same verses, but from 
Jer. 31 : 31 , 32, 33. On this page he is proving one point of his argu- 
ment, and left out those fifteen words without a dot or a tittle in their 
place, but quotes it as though it were one continuous scripture. On the 
next page he is proving another point of his argument, so he puts in those 
fifteen words, and quotes the first from Paul’s letter to the Hebrews, and 
the second from Jeremiah. 


(Page 21.) Behold the days come, saith the Lord, that I icill make a new covenant 
with thehouse of Israel, and with the house of Judah; not according to the covenant that I 


80 


IIOW ARE WE LED? 


made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of 
Egypt, which my covenant they broke, although I teas a husband to them, saith the Lord. 
But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel. After those days, 
saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts ; 

Those verses in Hebrews and in Jeremiah are almost word for w r ord alike. 

Sometimes Gitchell brings the old covenant down to the ten command- 
ments, and sometimes he includes the whole Old Testament. 

There is no person that can find one word of fault against the ten com- 
mandments alone, but when they include Moses’ teachings it is faulty. 

When Elder G. says that the old covenant was faulty, and must give way, 
he must include more than the ten commandments. 

When he says that Jesus fulfilled the old covenant, and abolished it, he 
must say that Jesus fulfilled that faultiness of it. How is that ? When he 
says that the old covenant was so faulty that it could not stand, and that 
Jesus fulfilled the old covenant, he must say that Jesus fulfilled that faulti- 
ness. Jesus said, “For thus it becomes us, to fulfil all righteousness.” 

Where did he get that righteousness ? He went into the Scriptures that 
were written long before the New Testament was written. And he taught 
us that that righteousness is there to-day, for Elder G. and the writer to 
fulfil. Jesus condemned the foulness that is in that Old Testament, and 
called it the traditions of men. But righteousness is there yet for all of us 
to fulfil. 

Elder Gitchell quoted this last quotation from Hebrews, to show that 
Paul said that the old covenant was done away. If Paul intended to say 
that the New Testament was the new covenant, I ask, Who was mediator of 
this new covenant ? Paul wrote more than one fourth of it ; some of it as 
late as sixty-six' years after the crucifixion. Paul was one of the mediators 
of the New (Testament) covenant. Paul was a man, just like Moses. Paul 
was doing the best that he knew how, just like Moses. Paul was possessed 
of human frailty , just like Moses. There was no man perfect, save Jesus. 
If you will say that the New Testament contains extremely good teachings, 
I will say, Amen. 

As for the new covenant, God undoubtedly told Jeremiah that he would 
make a new covenant with his people. This he does with every person that 
becomes one of his people. He covenants with each one separately, but 
with no nation or people collectively. He makes new covenants every day. 


(Page 20.) We find in this scripture, John 14 : 21. He that hath my com- 
1. Christ is mediator of the new covenant, mandments, and keepeth them, 

which is established on better promises ; Chap, 10:30. I and my Father are 

one. 

We find in this scripture that Christ is God, and God is mediator for a 
new covenant with every living person that will covenant with him, there- 
fore Christ is mediator of new covenants, which are established in more en- 
lightened minds than the old ones were. 


SUND AY-SABBATH REASONS CONSIDERED. 


81 


2. The old teas faulty , and must give way to a better one. 

The old covenant was faulty because so many were trying to live on a 
covenant that some one else had made. Since Jesus was crucified I think 
there are more trying to live on a covenant that some one else has made than 
there were in all the time of the Jews in the past. The whole world is now 
taught that they can go to heaven on Jesus’ covenant. 

3. The new was not a remodeling of the old, but entirely new ; 

If the old covenant was made at Sinai, it must be the ten commandments. 
Elder Gitchell says that this new covenant contains nine of those command- 
ments, yet his new covenant is not a remodeling of the old, but is entirely 
new. 1 say that Jesus made a covenant with G od, that was entirely new ; 
but it is not recorded in the New Testament. Every person that becomes 
a true Christian makes a covenant entirely new, yet we don’t find it recorded 
anywhere. 

I will record my covenant right here. I went to God in prayer, and I 
promised him that I would “ give up all earthly possessions, even my wife 
and family, my house, and my home, to become a child of God. I promised 
God in this new covenant that I would try to do his will as perfectly as 
human frailty would permit.” 

This was my new covenant, — all of it. I do not search the New Testa- 
ment to find Jesus’ covenant, but to find his teachings. 

I did not give my earthly possessions to God, but I gave them to the 
sons of Satan, because the sons of Satan gave me my choice to continue a 
child of Satan or to give up my earthly possessions. I gave up all to 
become a child of God. Some ask how can I be a child of God if I do not 
agree with the Bible, Now let me ask, Is it any worse for me to say that 
Paul, Moses or any other scripture writer through human frailty erred, than 
it is for Gitchell to deceivingly change the words of the Bible and teach men 
so ? And then let me ask, Is it any more for Elder Gitchell to change 
the words of the Bible and write it down, than it is for any other minister 
to get up in a pulpit and verbally change the words of the Bible and 
teach it ? Gitchell’s nest remark is, 

If.. This old covenant was the one made when God took Israel by the hand and led 
them from bondage, consequently ivas the one made on Sinai ; 

Moses’ covenant was made when he was on earth and could live up to it ; 
and when he was done away, his covenant was also done away ; but his 
teachings are still in existence. 

(Page 21.) 5. This first covenant waxed old, decayed, and was ready to vanish away ; 

My new covenant, if I let it wax old, and backslide from it, I expect it 
would vanish away also. If Gitchell ever made a new covenant, it may have 
waxed old, and vanished away. If he is living on some one else’s covenant, 
he may expect it to vanish away. 

6 


82 


IIOW ARE WE LED ? 


And the same with you, dear reader. If you are living on Jesus’ cove- 
nant, or on your preacher’s covenant, or on some one else’s covenant, it is 
liable to vanish away and leave you in the cold. But if you have a cove- 
nant of your own, remember word for word what your covenant is, and try 
constantly to keep it bright in your mind. Live up to it, and it will never 
vanish from you. If mothers would practice this from the time they were 
married, all mothers could raise a family of good children. 

Mothers, make your own covenant ; by your actions show to the world 
that your covenant is constantly kept bright in your mind. Do n’t depend 
on others’ covenants, but study the teachings of Jesus, and teach your 
children also to covenant for themselves. 

Dear husbands and dear wives, you should remember that when you were 
married you made such a covenant with your companions. If you con- 
stantly keep that covenant bright in } r our mind, and try constantly to live 
up to it, you will be the winners. 

The whole world knows that man does not treat his companion as kindly 
as he ought. But the worst ill-tempered man in the world will treat his 
companion far better if she constantly tries to live up to her marriage cove- 
nant, than he will if she is constantly dealing out hell-fire from her fiery 
tongue. Therefore she is the winner of his better treatment even in this 
world ; and a great winner in the world to come. 

6. The new would take the place of the old , and would be written in the heart ; 

If you make the new covenant yourself, it will be written in your heart ; 
if you are living on Jesus’ covenant, there is no person living that can word 
his covenant ; how then can it be written in the heart if you cannot word it ? 

7. The first covenant was the one having ordinances of divine service and a worldly 
sanctuary. 

According to Elder Gitchell’s seventh statement, we must have a terrible 
ignorant God, to create people, compel them to serve him divinely, and then 
pay them in earthly guerdon, which is subject to pilfer or theft. 

If Elder Gitchell believes this seventh statement, can any one blame 
him for electioneering for Jesus Christ instead of God ? or for trying to 
live on Jesus’ covenant instead of making a covenant with God ? No, if 
Elder G. is ignorantly electioneering for some one else, in preference to 
God ; if he is ignorantly trying to live on some one else’s covenant, he 
only shows that he is possessed of the same thing that Moses was possessed 
of, — human frailty. 

(Page 21.) Having now proven that the law was given to the Israelites by a covenant 
on Mount Sinai , and that this law contained the Sabbath day ; also , having proven that 
this law written in stone , known as the ten commandments , was annulled, done away, 
abolished and dead, we will now introduce the new covenant which takes the place of 
the old. 

Dear readers : Do you accept the Elder’s proof as positive scripture 
proof ? If you do, I will tell you what he has proven. He has proven that 
the ten commandments were given only to the Jews. He has proven that 


SABBATH-SUNDAY REASONS CONSIDERED. 


83 


the ten commandments were the old covenant. He has proven that Jesus 
made a new covenant, entirely new, not remodeling the old. Now he will 
prove that nine of those ten commandments are in this new covenant. 

Dear readers, these very same scriptures, from which Gitchell brings his 
proof, tell ns that the ten commandments are only God’s part of a covenant 
which was recorded on stone, to last forever ; and our part is yet unwritten. 
These scriptures tell us that it was given to God’s children (Israel’s chil- 
dren). This same scripture tells us that a mixed multitude went up with 
the Hebrews out of Egypt. How many were true Israelites and how many 
were hypocrites that joined the Jewish nation, is not known. These same 
scriptures tell us that all through Moses’ teachings the stranger was wel- 
comely received as one of God’s children. And Gitchell tells us on his 39th 
page that his new covenant is composed of nine tenths of those command- 
ments, yet it is not a remodeling of the old, but that it took nine tenths of 
the old one to make one entirely new. 

To introduce his new covenant he goes back to Jeremiah some 606 years 
before the days of Jesus. There God told Jeremiah that he would give us 
the same laws and write them in our hearts. On page 20 Gitchell was fix- 
ing his scripture proof to abolish the old covenant. There he quoted those 
verses from the eighth chapter of Hebrews. He left out fifteen words with- 
out a jot or tittle to show that one word was left out. On this page (21) he 
is introducing his new covenant, and he puts those words m. As I gave 
those quotations a few pages back, I will not give them here, but will pass on 
to his remarks on page 22. 

(Page 21.) Jesus . . . ascended on high (p. 22), obtaining the Holy Ghost to change 
the heart of man. 

Putting the law in their inward parts, and writing them on the heart, is something 
more than the intuitive knowledge of right and wrong. 

It is suiting the nature to constantly act from principles that promote the highest good. 

Here he tells us that Jesus obtained the Holy Ghost to change the heart 
of man, that Jesus went to heaven after he was crucified, to obtain the Holy 
Ghost. The New Testament tells us that he changed the hearts of many 
before he was crucified. 

Gitchell tells us that writing the law on the heart is something more than 
intuitive knowledge of right and wrong. 

So we see that Jesus has the power to give us more than intuitive knowl- 
edge. Gitchell tells us that it is suiting the nature to constantly act right. 
I ask, Is Elder Gitchell’s nature, or any other minister’s nature, made so 
as to constantly act right when he will change the words of the Scrip- 
ture, or falsely preach it, to suit our nature to believe as the minister may 
desire us to believe ? 

Now I ask, Does anyone believe that Jesus received power to change the 
nature of man so as to constantly act upon righteous principles ? Does 
any one believe that Jesus made a covenant with God that God should re- 
ceive into heaven those whose natures Jesus had changed, and on whose 
hearts he had written the law ? I ask, Can any one believe that after Jesus 
made such a covenant with God, and after God had given him this holy power, 


84 


HOW ARE WE LED '{ 


that Jesus comes upon earth, selects a few, changes their natures, writes his 
law on their hearts, and then leaves all others to everlasting destruction ? 
No, Jesus selects none to walk in his path, but every person must select for 
himself which path he will walk in. 

(Page 22.) Hence , the principle of love is established in his nature, and he loves God 
with all his heart, and his neighbor as himself. 

How is this ? Christ has the power to change our nature, to fill our 
hearts with love, and then we love God with all our hearts. Christ comes 
into a neighborhood of twenty or more, and changes the nature of four or 
five, and the rest he leaves unchanged. Those whose natures Christ has 
changed will go to heaven on the covenant that Jesus made. Those through 
Christ’s selection shall be saved ; and the remainder, because Jesus has not 
changed their nature, they must be damned. 

St. Paul says, this love is shed 1 abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost. Rom. v : 5. 
Rom. xiii : 8-10 demonstrates clearly that this love takes the place of all the commandments, 
completes the entire code of judgments, statutes, ordinances , and laics. 

Dear readers, neither Jesus Christ nor God will change the nature of 
man, except man cultivate his own nature. God is purity ; he cannot go 
outside of the path of purity, except to go into impurity ; and then he is 
not God, for God cannot be impurity. But when man steps into the path of 
purity, God will exercise great power over him to help to cultivate his nature 
in the ways of purity. 


CHAPTER VII. 

REVIEW OF ELDER GITCHELL’s SABBATH ARGUMENTS. 

( Continued .) 

Elder Gitchell says that when Jesus changes the nature of a man, that 
man loves God with all his heart. Let me ask, How do they love God ? 
Our preachers teach us that up in the sky there is an object with a body, a 
head, arms and limbs, feet and hands ; and then they tell us that that object 
is God, and that we were created in the image of that object ; and that 
object is our God, and we must love that object with all our heart ; and so 
we love our God with all our heart. 

Dear readers, loving such an object is no love for God ; many may love 
such a God without changing their natures in the least. My belief concern- 
ing loving God is this : God is purity ; if I love to be pure, I love to be in 
the image of God. God is honesty ; if I love to be honest, I love to be in 
the image of God. God is truthfulness ; if I love to be truthful , I love to be 
in the image of God. God is kindness ; if I love to be kind, I love to be in 
the image of God. God is absolute 'perfection in any place you can think of ; 
if I love to be perfect in all places, I love to be in the image of God in the 
fullest sense. 


THE TWO COVENANTS. 


85 


But human frailty will not permit any person to be fully in the image 
of God ; through blindness we will get out of the path of righteousness, in 
spite of all we can do. But if I love to be in the full image of God, as far 
as human frailty will permit, then I love the Lord my God with all my 
might, mind, and strength, and my neighbor as myself. This is pure love 
for God and it is the only love that the human being can experience for God. 

As for Christ having the power to change the nature of man, so as to 
make him love God, it is utterly impossible. The mother has a thousand- 
fold more power to form the nature of her child to love God than Christ 
has to change the nature after it is once formed. If the nature is changed 
after it is once formed and permitted to grow in that w r a}', man has to try 
to change his own nature ; then God has great power over those that try to 
improve themselves. God has great power with all who try to walk in the 
path of righteousness. Pure love for God is love for godliness, or God- 
like-ness. No person can love God who loves to do the will of Satan more 
than to do the will of God : neither can any person love a companion, and 
at the same time love to do contrary to the will of that companion. 

(Page 22.) Owe no man anything but to love one another ; for he that loveth another 
hath fulfilled the law. 

On this 22d page Elder Gitchell tells us of this new covenant, and he 
quotes from Paul’s letter to the Homans, that “ he that loveth another hath 
fulfilled the law.” On this 22d page he is teaching us that many have 
fulfilled the new covenant, and that we also should fulfil the new covenant 
in the experience of this same kind of love. 

(Page 41.) Think not that I am come to destroy the law or the 'prophets. I am not 
come to destroy , but to fulfil. ... To fulfil is to fill up, to complete. To f ulfil a contract, 
is to finish and end it. 

Then we turn over to the 41st page, and there he tells us that Jesus 
fulfilled the old covenant, finished it up, abolished it, and that it is done 
away. 

What a difference between the fulfilling of the old and the new covenant ! 
To fulfil the old covenant was to fill it up, to finish and end it. To fulfil 
the new covenant is to exercise its love, show it to the world, and spread it 
abroad for the whole creation to fulfil again the same new covenant by 
experiencing that love. 

The Bible teaches us that Jesus set us an example by fulfilling all 
righteousness that is found in the Old Testament. 

o 

(Page 22.) The whole law is fulfilled or completed in the experience of love. This is a 
spiritual covenant ; the great feature and sum of it is love. 

Hence, the principle of love is established in his nature, and he loves Ood with all 
his heart. 

Gitchell tells us not to follow the example of Jesus by fulfilling that right- 
eousness, for Jesus fulfilled it and done it away. But he teaches us that we 
must fulfil the new covenant, that has been fulfilled so many times, and 
quotes from Paul’s writings. If we examine Paul’s epistles closely, we 
find that he says that he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. What 
law is Paul speaking of ? — It is the ten commandments. 


86 


IIOW ARE WE LED ? 


Covenants Contrasted. (Page 22.) The old covenant was one of works, to he 
performed without variation or violation; 

Gitchell said that the old covenant was the ten commandments written on 
stone, given on Mount Sinai. Here he says it is one of works. 

Let us see these works. 

1. “Thou shalt have no other gods before me.” I see no manual 
labor in keeping this commandment. 

2. “Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image/’ I see no 
manual labor in keeping this commandment. 

3. ‘ ‘ Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain. ” When 
some men get real angry, they have to chew their lips to keep from swear- 
ing, that is all the manual labor that I can see in keeping this command- 
ment. 

4. “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. ” I cannot see wherein 
we perform any manual labor in resting on the Sabbath day. 

5. “ Honor thy father and thy mother.” There may be a little physical 
labor connected with this precept, if we honor our parents enough to help 
them through old age ; we may work a little for them ; but under Gitchell’s 
new covenant all we have to do is to love our father and mother ; that we 
can do without work. 

6. “Thou shalt not kill.” The sons of Satan may accumululate property 
easier by robbing and killing than by working for it ; but those command- 
ments were given to God’s children. I cannot see wherein a true child of 
God can save work by killing. 

7. ‘ * Thou shalt not commit adultery. ” Some men, and some preachers, too, 
have hard work to keep their hands off from the daughters of Satan. With 
some it is a little work to keep this commandment, but whilst under 
Gitchell’s new covenant all they have to do is to love the daughters of 
Satan, ,under his new covenant, if you commit adulter}', Jesus has paid 
the debt, he has given his life for you, he has washed away that sin and 
many more that you may hereafter commit. If you just believe that he is 
the true Son of God, he will take you into heaven without your making a 
covenant, or living up to the one that he has made. What a nice covenant! — 
pure love. 

8. “ Thou shalt not steal. ” The keeping of this commandment requires 
more works than all the rest, because if you do not steal a living you must 
get it through works. 

9. ‘ ‘ Thou shalt not bear false witness. ” Hell-fire rolls off from the human 
tongue, and it has rested there so long that it has become second nature for 
the human tongue to talk, and it requires some effort to keep it still. 

10. “ Thou shalt not covet.” This, like the human tongue, has had so 
long practice that it has become a very part of our nature, and it is hard to 
overcome that nature. 

Now we have looked at every precept of the law that was given on Mount 
Sinai, all that was written on stone, and all that Gitchell said constituted 
the old covenant, and of course we find that it takes some works to live a 
religious life. 


THU TWO COVENANTS. 


87 


(Page 22.) the new is the spirit of righteousness stamped on our nature , 

But I ’ll tell you, readers, when you see persons whose natures Jesus has 
stamped regardless of their inclination, whom Jesus has made Christians, 
without any effort on their part, for whom Jesus gave his life to pay for the 
sins that they have committed, or that they may commit, when you see such 
persons, you will see those that are going to heaven regardless of crime ; all 
that such have to do is to love God and believe that Jesus is the true Son 
of God. 

(Page 22.) Moses of the tribe of Levi , a man of human frailty ; 

Again he says that Moses was frail : I say that too. All human creat- 
ures are frail. 

I also say. that Moses’ teachings were frail, but because Moses put his 
national laws into the same books that contained God’s word, that gives us 
no cause for throwing aside God’s word. Because Jesus fulfilled all right- 
eousness that gives us no cause to lay aside all righteousness. Moses gave 
us teachings, and he gave the stranger an invitation to come and live under 
his teachings, and become a religious person. Jesus came and gave us 
more and better teachings, and sent his teachings to the whole world, and 
gave a new invitation to the whole world to live up to his teachings, and so 
become religious people. That gives us no cause to throw away all right- 
eousness found in God’s commands. I am willing to say that the foulness 
of Moses’ teachings should be laid aside, and in their place we should 
take the teachings of Jesus. I am willing to say that Moses’ old invitation 
can be laid aside, and that Jeaus’ new invitation has taken the place of it, 
and is extended to all people, both Jew and Gentile ; but God’s word, and 
all righteousness, is just as pure to-day as it was when Jesus was living in 
accordance with it, as it was when Jesus was fulfilling it. 

(Page 22.) The old covenant is one of works , to be performed without variation or 
violation ; the new is the spirit of righteousness stamped in our nature , 

Gitchell’s old covenant is to be performed without variation or violation. 

His new one is some one else’s covenant, and he may vary it to suit his 
taste, and if he violates it every day, God will forgive him, for Jesus has 
paid the debt. 

(Page 23.) The old was given amid the smoke , the fire , the thunder , and terror of 
Mount Sinai; the new was given amid the love, the joy, the glory, and the power of the 
day of pentecost. 

He has called the whole New Testament the new covenant ; now he brings 
it down to the giving of the Holy Ghost. If he would take the treatment 
and crucifixion of Jesus, together with the earthquake and darkness of the 
sun, I think he could turn his contrast the other way and find more hell-fire 
and smoke than was found on Mount Sinai. 

(Page 23.) The old was engraved on stone and kept in the ark ; 

(Page 23.) The old had the promise of possession in the land of Canaan, protected 
from enemies , and fruitful harvests ; 


88 


IIOW ARE WE LED ? 


He tells us here that the old covenant was engraven on stone ; this is the 
ten commandments given on Sinai which w r e just passed over to find the 
works that were connected with them. Where did we find one word of such 
a promise, in the ten commandments ? 

(Page 23.) Transgressions under the old were not to be forgiven, but punished with 
immediate death ; 

He has pinned his old covenant down to the ten commandments, now he 
seems to reach out into Moses’ teachings. Truly God talked with Moses, 
and told him that for the violation of the ten commandments there should be 
the first death, spiritual death. 

Probably Moses understood God that it should be mortal death, and so 
they stoned the transgressors. The very minute that we violate these com- 
mandments to-day we receive that same spiritual death. 

(Page 23.) The new promised forgiveness to the penitent, and continued favor 
from God. 

We found on page 22 that one could transgress all he might choose, for 
Jesus has paid the debt : God will forgive him. 

(Page 23.) The old was a shadow of things to come ; the new was the substance that 
cast that shadow. 

The Old Testament was the word of God brought to light through Moses ; 
the new was still more and greater light handed to us through Jesus. 

(Page 23.) The new makes us fellow citizens with the saints , and kings ami priests 
unto God. 

The old was a schoolmaster to bring us toward the faith of Christ ; 

I admit that Moses was a schoolmaster, and the first ever on earth, in 
the place of a Christian teacher. Abraham received the same power, but 
never exercised it in teaching others. Jacob received the same power, but 
hardly taught his own family. Moses was the first schoolmaster that ever 
taught Christianity (then called Israelitism). Jesus received the same 
power, became the same kind of a schoolmaster, and was as far ahead of 
Moses, as Moses was ahead of Abraham. 

(Page 23.) The old had the levitical priesthood that could not continue by reason of 
death, and needed to offer sacrifices for their own sins ; 

(Page 23.) The new has a high priest that has passed into the Heavens — Jesus the 
Son of God. 

We went clear through the ten commandments, and the ten command- 
ments were all that was written on the stone, all that was given on Mount 
Sinai amid the terrible phenomenon, and we do not find one word m Gitchell’s 
old covenant about priesthood. We find the priesthood spoken of in Moses 
teachings, but not in God’s commands. The people that lived under Gitch- 
ell’s old covenant had to give their own account for their sins ; but those 
living under Gitchell’s new covenant Jesus accounts for all of their sins. 

(Page 23.) The seal of the old was circumcision, . . . but, under the new, we are 
sealed with the Holy Ghost. 

To seal a thing, is to make it right, sure, and lasting. The circumcising 
or sprinkling of infants does not make them sure or lasting. 

A covenant is a bargain, either written or verbal. A deed is a written 
bargain or covenant. Can a priest or minister covenant my land away fron 


THE TWO COVENANTS. 


89 


me, write out a deed, seal it and pass it away; without my knowledge ? with- 
out my signature ? Can that priest or minister find any person who is fool 
enough to take such a deed, such a covenant, and think they have a title to 
my land? — No. Man would not take such a covenant as that, though it 
was written, and pretended to be sealed. Has God less knowledge than 
man ? would he take such a covenant as that, even when it is not written 
at all ? Can man write a covenant, or make a verbal covenant, that will 
sign away my soul, easier than he can sign away my land, without my 
knowledge or signature ? 

No. God created my spirit in his own image, which is freedom of 
spirit ; and man cannot take that freedom from the spirit Men can take 
the freedom from the body, but they cannot take it from the spirit. God 
will never take a covenant for my spirit without my knowledge and my seal, 
even from Jesus. God never accepted such a covenant, or bargain, for my 
soul. No. He never accepted a covenant for my soul until he got my 
signature, my seal. And it will be the same with you, dear readers. If 
you make your own covenant, and seal it yourself, you are sure to win ; but 
if you depend upon the covenant of others, you are liable to fail. 

(Page 6.) We shall apply to the word of God , and deduce from it our proof . 

Elder Gitchell says he shall apply to the word of God for his proof. 

We state . . . that the world had no Sabbath for four thousand years {except the one 
given to the Israelites). 

Two thousand five hundred thirteen years from the creation, God . . . gave . . . 
Israel a Sabbath. 

The Bible is silent about this ; it does not say that they had, or had not, 
a Sabbath, outside of Moses' nation. How then can the Elder prove any- 
thing by Scripture where the Scripture is silent ? . 

(Page 18.) Having proven by Scripture, and in various other ways, that no Sabbath 
was given or kept for two thousand five hundred thirteen years from the creation, etc. 

He has changed the Scripture in various ways, yet the Scripture is silent, 
and gives no proof. 

(Page 25.) Adam had a law ; how extensive this law was is not recorded. Whether 
that law had a Sabbath is impossible to determine. 

Here he himself says that it is impossible to determine in regard to a 
Sabbath during this period in which he has tried to prove by Scripture that 
they had no Sabbath. 

Why does he say that it is impossible to determine this fact ? Because 
Adam’s law was not recorded ; the Bible is silent here. 

Ques. How has he proven anything by Scripture, when the Scripture is 
silent ? 

(Page 25.) By man's fall he has inherited a depraved nature. 

By lack of cultivation, or by wrong cultivation of the mind or from the 
disposition of the mother, the children have inherited a depraved nature. 

Human nature will grow, from bad to worse, or from good to better, just 
according as the cultivation may be. As mothers were the first to lead into 
wrong cultivation, the first to eat the forbidden fruit, they ought to be 


90 


HOW ARE WE LED? 


willing to take the lead in the way of right cultivation. Mothers must first 
cultivate their own dispositions, and then cultivate the disposition of their 
children before we can be brought back to an upright nature. A mother 
can never cultivate the disposition of her child if she allows herself to fight 
against the father when he corrects that child. 

(Page 28.) The law ascertains the duty of man,, assigns that duty, fixes penalties for 
transgressions, and compels them [to be\ executed. 

God’s word points out our duties, and the complete penalty for violating 
those duties is spiritual death. 

The Jews understood it to be death of the body, and they inflicted violent 
death in punishment. 

After we have learned that that penalty is spiritual death, a minister of 
the gospel that teaches his followers that God’s word, which he wrote with 
his own finger on stone, was good enough for Israelites, but is too severe 
for Christians, is like the mother who permits her son to commit all sorts 
of depredations because she can’t bear to hurt his poor little flesh, and then 
cries because the jailer takes him m charge for his trespasses. 

(Page 28.) The law gives man the knowledge of sin without giving him power over it. 

The man that has no knowledge of right or wrong can no more commit 
sm than the beast can. 

Moses gave us knowledge of right and wrong, and the Jew that lives 
under Moses’ teachings has it in his power to commit sin, or to avoid sin. 
But Jesus gave us a hundredfold more knowledge of right and wrong than 
ever Moses did. Yet we have no more power to shun sin than the Jew has. 
Why should we not condemn the words of Jesus, and say that the Romanists 
trampled upon them all through the Dark Ages. 

(Page 28.) The law subjects every transgression to the penalty of death. 

Let me ask every Christian that believes that Jesus has paid the debt of 
their sins, Do you believe that every time that you commit sin that Christ 
enters into spiritual death with God ? 

If Christ has done this, from the time of the crucifixion until the present 
time, Christ and God must be a long, long way apart by this time. But if 
your own spirit enters into the first death on account of your own sins, then 
you have the privilege of repenting, and being resurrected to God anew. 
Pay your own debts, and let Jesus rest. 

(Page 29.) T That shall I do with the law ? ... It is a lamp to our feet, a guide for 
our path. It points out lofty positions- that we may attain through the grace of God, 
It is a cannon's thunder to waken sleeping sinners. 

The law that God wrote on stone, on Mount Sinai, amid the fire and 
smoke, is good to waken up the sleeping sinner. It is also good for the 
feet of the Christian, because it points to the lofty place where the Christian 
may find rest. But it is not good for the head of the Christian to merely 
theorize by. 

Dear Christian, obey God’s word rather than that of man. 


THE TWO COVENANTS. 


91 


(Page 31.) Christ left but one appointment as he started through death's territories, 
and that was to, and did, take place on the Lord's day. Another appointment followed on 
the next Lord's day. 

What is an Appointment ? An appointment of a meeting must embrace 
two selections. And those two selections cannot be found between the lids 
of the Bible. Gitcliell tells us that Jesus left one appointment. 

But he does not tell us what that appointment was for, where it was to 
take place, when it was to take place, or where it is found in the Bible. 
To read one passage of Gitchell’s book, we would say that that appointment 
was filled on Sunday, the day that Jesus came out of the tomb. In another 
place he would make us believe that it was filled on another Sunday; but we 
will search the Bible for it. 

(Page 32.) This is the meeting appointed of Christ before his death. 

Christ never died. Jesus as flesh and blood was crucified, and died the 
mortal death. 

Christ was God. The Spirit of God, which possessed the body of Jesus, 
that made him the true Son of God. Christ was a spirit, and could die only 
a spiritual death. Jesus died the mortal death, but Christ is still living in 
unity with God. It was the spirit of God that performed the miracles that 
were wrought. 

(Page 32.) The first meeting of the apostles and others in the form of an assembly, 
after Christ's resurrection, is clearly recorded in John xx, 19 : Then the same day at 
evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were 
assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and said unto them, 
peace be unto you. 

In this quotation the Bible tells us that they were gathered together, and 
the doors were shut for fear of the Jews. “The Prince of the House of 
David ” also tells us that the apostles kept themselves hid for fear of the 
Jews in the house of Amos, in the city of Jerusalem. Gitchell tells us that 
the apostles were gathered together by an appointment of Jesus. Which 
shall we believe, the preachers or the Bible ? 

If they were gathered together here by an appointment made by Jesus, 
why does the Bible tell us that it was for fear of the Jews ? If he goes 
into profane history for his proof, why does he say it is Scripture proof ? 
When he changes the words of the Bible so as to make it read just as he 
may want, how can he call that positive proof ? When the Bible is silent, 
and does not say one word whether it is so or is not, how can he say he 
has proved his points by the Scripture ? 

I sometimes quote a few words from profane history, but I first bring 
my proof from the Bible. I only quote profane history to show that the 
words of the Bible are sustained even by uninspired persons, and then I 
tell you where to find it. 

(Page 32.) This is the meeting appointed Matt. 2:22. He turned aside into 

Galilee * 

of Christ before his death. 23. And he came and dwelt in a city 

called Nazareth : 

Matt 26:32. But after I am risen 
again, I will go before you into Galilee. 


92 


IIOW ARE WE LED ? 


Here Gitchell says that when the apostles were gathered together for 
fear of the Jews, that this is the meeting appointed by Christ. Matthew 
speaks as though Jesus left an appointment, but we cannot get enough from 
Matthew to justify us in saying that we have positive proof. 

Matt. 28 : 16. Then the eleven disci- 
ples went away into Galilee into a moun- 
tain where Jesus had appointed them. 

Verse 17. And when they saw him, 
they worshiped him : 

Verse 18. And Jesus came and spake 
unto them. 

Luke 24 : 50. And he led them out as 
far as Bethany, and he lifted up his 
hands, and blessed them. 

Verse 51. And it came to pass, while 
he blessed them, he was parted from 
them, and carried up into heaven. 

The 28th chapter tells Elder Gitchell still plainer that Jesus left an ap- 
pointment. Yet it does not give it plain enough so that he can say it is 
positive scripture proof (as he has stated that he would give us,) that this 
meeting is the one appointed by Jesus before his crucifixion. But it tells 
us more plainly that the appointed time (if there was any appointed time,) 
was thirty-nine days later, by our way of counting, or forty days later, ac- 
cording to the Jewish way of counting. This meeting took place on Thurs- 
day, on Mount Olivet. Acts 1 : 12. So I cannot see Elder Gitchell’s 
positive scripture proof that Jesus left an appointment to meet with his 
disciples on Sunday. 

Acts 13 : 13. Now when Paul (Ver. 
14) went into the synagogue on the Sab- 
bath days, and sat down. 

Verse 15. And after the reading of 
the law and the prophets, the rulers of 
the synagogue sent unto them, saying, 
Ye men and brethren, if ye have any 
word of exhortation for the people, say on. 

Verse 16. Then Paul stood up, and 
beckoning with his hands said, . . . give 
audience. 

Verse 27. Because they knew him 
not, 

Verse 42. And when the Jews were 
gone out of the synagogue, the Gentiles 
besought that those words might be 
preached to them the next Sabbath. 

Let us permit him to call the Old Testament the old covenant. Though 
he was the one that chose for the old covenant the stone writing given on 
Mount Sinai amid the terrible fire and smoke. 

Here he says the able ministers of the old covenant tell us that the 


(Page 32.) The able ministers of the 
old covenant tell us that the apostles and 
Christians went to the synagogues on the 
seventh day sabbaiii 10 icorship, but they 
have not given us one example. 


We find in the second chapter of Mat- 
thew that Galilee was a country in which 
Jesus was raised. In verse 26 he said, 
“After I am risen again I will go be- 
fore you into” the country where he 
was raised, but he did not say what part 
of the country, nor at what time, there- 
fore I cannot say that Jesus left any re- 
ligious appointment for worship. 
Neither can I say that he did not leave 
such an appointment. 


The two covenants. 


D3 


apostles went into the synagogues on the seventh-day Sabbath to worship, 
but they have not given one example. Does he expect any one to find in 
the Old Testament where Jesus or his apostles went into the synagogues to 
practise Jesus’ teachings before Jesus was born ? From the New Testament 
I will give him nine verses here, and when we get into Paul’s travels, I will 
try to give him twice nine, from his new covenant, as he calls it. 

Verse 44. And the next Sabbath day 
came almost the whole city together to 
hear the word of God. 

Chap. 16 : 13. And on the next Sab- 
bath we went out of the city by the river 
side, where prayer was wont to be made ; 

Chap. 17 : 2. And Paul, as his manner 
was, went in unto them, and three Sab- 
bath days reasoned with them out of the 
Scriptures. 

Elder Gitchell uses bluff work for argument all the way through his book. 
He tells us that Paul taught the Jews on the Sabbath days because they 
were Jews ; but we find in the Acts that Paul taught both Jew and Gentile, 
“and persuaded the Jews and the Greeks.” And when we come to Paul’s 
travels, we find him in various parts of Asia teaching in the synagogues, on 
the Sabbath days. 

(Page 32.) We cannot find in scripture Chap. 18 : 4. And he reasoned in the 
where the church met as a regular worship- synagogues every Sabbath, and per- 
ing assembly , on the seventh-day. suaded the Jews and the Greeks. 

I would ask you to remember that the Jews were divided into two classes, 
and the Christian Jews met with the Greeks, and all Gentiles, for religious 
worship on the seventh-da}’. 

(Page 32. ) But we can find ivhere they met on the first day of the week to worship. 

The second meeting was held one week from the first. 

John 20:26. And after eight days , again his disciples were within .... came 
Jesus , etc. 

The expression, “ eight days ,” the same as saying, three days in the heart of the earth. 
They counted the one in which he was buried, and the one on which he rose, 

lie says he cannot find where they met on the seventh-day, but I will try 
to find these texts for him. He says he can find where they met on the 
first day of the week for religious worship. We remember that he gave us 
one meeting, where they met in the house of Amos for fear of the Jews. 
Now he gives us another similar meeting eight days later. And then he will 
give us another, when Paul preached his farewell sermon, as he took his 
departure, on his journey through the different countries, visiting the dif- 
ferent churches, delivering the decrees, and preaching in many synagogues 
on the Sabbath-days. Paul’s farewell sermon, and those two, are all that he 
can find that were on the first-day of the week. 

Here Elder Gitchell tells us the same as Brother W. and Brother H. in 
answering my questions that they counted the first and the last days. 


(Page 32.) However they direct us to 
times when Paul entered different synagogues, 
and taught the Jews Jesus and the resurrec- 
tion, on the seventh day. 


94 


HOW ARE WE LED 


But let me say here that Paul was converted two years after Jesus was 
crucified ; ten years later he preached his first sermon at Antioch. Twenty- 
one years after Jesus was crucified, Paul wrote his first letter to the Thessa- 
lonians. Sixty- three years after Jesus was crucified, the apostles closed 
their writings. During all the teachings of Jesus, and during all the writ- 
ings of the apostles not one word is spoken of an assembly on the first-day 
of the week for a Christian Sabbath worship. One farewell sermon, and 
two places where they were assembled for fear of the Jews, are the only 
assemblies spoken of in the whole New Testament as occurring on the first 
day of the week. 

When Gitchell closed his remarks of the meeting (in the house of 
Amos) on the first-day of the week, when the doors were shut for fear of the 
Jews, he quoted four words from the 26th chapter of Matthew, the 32d verse. 

(Page 32.) Matt . 26:32. This is Rev. 1 : 10. I was in the spirit on the 
Lord's day. Lord’s day. 

And the passage that he quotes is not found between the lids of the 
Bible. 

We find one verse, and only one, that says (the Lord’s day) ; this is 
found in Revelation, the only place that the term “ Lord’s day ” is found in 
the New Testament. And it does not say whether it was Saturday, Sunday, 
Monday, or what day of the week it was. 

Matt. 26 : 32. But after I am risen 
again, I will go before you into Galilee. 

Jer. 46 : 10. For this is the day of the 
Lord God of hosts, a day of vengeance. 

1 Thess. 5 : 2, the day of the Lord so 
cometh as a thief in the night. 2 Pet. 
3:10. 

As for Matthew 26: 32, it does not speak of the Lord’s day in any way what- 
ever. We find the day of the Lord mentioned some twenty-four times in the 
Bible, but only three times that could be applied to any one day. I am willing to 
apply those three passages of scripture to Sunday. And we first find Sunday to be 
a day of vengeance ; then we turn to First Thessalonians and Second Peter, and 
both of these books tell us that the day comes as a thief in the night. Gitchell’s 
Sabbath day comes as a thief and steals away the sign that God gave his children 
when he gave the Sabbath. The sign that God wrote on the stone, that he wrote 
with his own finger. Those are the only passages in the Bible where the day of 
the Lord can be applied to one day alone. I am willing to apply them to'Sunday. 

(Page 32.) But when did the Church of Christ in any place ever enter a synagogue 
to hold Christian worship ? 

We have just noticed nine verses of this kind, and will find more when 
we need them See Acts 13 : 14, 15, 16, 17, 42, 44 ; 16 : 13 ; 17 : 21, 
and 18 : 4. 


The first meeting of the apostles and 
others in the form of an assembly, after 
Christ's resurrection, is clearly recorded in 
John xx : 19. 

This is the meeting appointed of Christ 
before his death. 


John 20 : 19. The same day at even- 
ing, being the first day of the week, 
when the doors were shut where the dis- 
ciples were assembled for fear of the 
Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst, 
and said unto them, Peace be unto you. 


THB CHRISTIAN SABBATH. 


95 


We just had this remark, but it will bear farther inspection. 

He says the disciples and others were assembled. The Bible shows that 
there were not others. 

The Bible says plainly, “ where the disciples were assembled for fear of 
the Jews.” Does this say that the disciples were assembled with others at 
an appointed assembly ? — Far from it. Get your Bible and read the whole 
chapter, if you like. Elder Gitchell further says, ‘ ‘ This is the meeting ap- 
pointed of Christ before his death.” As we have just gone over this, I leave 
this point to the mind of my readers. If there was an appointed meeting, 
is this it ? or was it in Galilee, where he led them out to the Mount of 
Olives, and blessed them, and ascended into heaven ? 

(Page 32.) Christ established this day , and as he is Lord of the Sabbath , we have 
this high authority for its adoption. 

Here Elder G. tells us that Christ established the Sunday Sabbath. 
When did he establish it ? 


THE CHBISTIAN SABBATH. 


Jesus began teaching the righteousness of God in the year twenty- 
nine, when he was near thirty -three years old. He kept on teaching until 
the spring of A. D. 33, when he was past thirty-six years old. He taught 
this righteousness for more than three years, and never once spoke of Sun- 
day as a Sabbath. Neither he, nor his apostles in all their writings, for 
sixty- six years after the crucifixion, ever dropped one word about Sunday. 
I ask my readers. How did Jesus then establish such a Sabbath ? 


(Page 32.) That he would occasion 
such a day was intimated in a prophetic 
Psalm. 

(Page 33.) This is the day which the 
Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be 
glad in it. 

(Page 32.) In this Psalm , which an 
apostle applies to Christ, we have those 
words : 


Ps. 118 : 23. This is the Lord’s doing ; 
it is marvelous in our eyes. 

Verse 24. This is the day which the 
Lord hath made : we will rejoice and be 
glad in it. 

Verse 25. Save now. . . . O Lord, I 
beseech thee, send now prosperity. 


He tells us that this day was prophesied of in the Psalms, but he doe;j 
not tell us where to find it ; but I find it in the 118th psalm, 24th verse. 
But I find another verse, just before that one. We will look at that also, 
and the one following. He has no authority for saying a prophetic psalm. 
The psalms are songs, not prophecies. If an apostle applied this to Chirsfi 
does that give Gitchell authority to apply it to the Sabbath, and say that 
J esus established it on Sunday ? 

Will he tell us that this was given in a prophetic psalm hundreds of 
years before Jesus was born ? that Jesus established it when he came, and 
then went through his entire ministry and never once spoke of it ? 


(Page 33. ) This is the day which the Lord hath made : we will rejoice and be glad in it. 
Lot me say that when I was a boy I lived in a new country, and we did 
not have machinery then as we have in the present day. 


96 


HOW ARE WE LED? 


In Noah’s day was the flood, in Washington’s day was the revolution, in 
Lincoln’s day was the rebellion, and in the present day we have peace. 
Dear readers, I have used the w r ord 11 day” five different times ; can any one 
time be applied to one particular day ? if so, let Elder Gitchell apply the 
Psalmist’s words to Sunday. 

(Page 25. ) We demand them to prove that the Jewish sabbath is incorporated as the 
sabbath of the new covenant ; and this proof we shall surely demand of them. 

(Page 32.) Christ .... is Lord of the sabbath. 

Elder G-itcliell’s statements are backed by apparent scripture proof, and 
he demands that others give positive proof. But first, let me say, I shall 
not try to prove by the Bible where it is silent, neither will I change its 
words for proof ; but simply show to the world the scripture, and let those 
who have it study it for themselves, and answer for themselves. 

We remember that on page 32 he told us that Christ established the Sab- 
bath, ‘ 1 and as he is Lord of the Sabbath, we have this high authority for its 
adoption.” We will turn to Mark and see what Jesus said. 


What a lesson Jesus has given us 
here. 

We have learned that Christ was the 
Son of God. We have learned that 
frailty is the son of Satan, commonly 
called the son of man. 

We must-be either a son of God, or a 
son of Satan. 

But as man is a milder expression 
than Satan, we are commonly called 
children of God, or children of men. 

Jesus told us that the Son of man is 
Lord of the Sabbath. He did not say 
the Son of God. 


Mark 2 : 24. Why do they on the 
Sabbath day that which is not lawful ? 

Verse 25. And he said . . . have 
ye never read what David did, when he 
. . . was a hungered ? 

Verse 26. How he . . . did eat the 
shewbread, which is not lawful to eat 
but for the priests. 

Verse 27. And he said unto them, 
the Sabbath was made for man, and not 
man for the Sabbath. 

Verse 28. Therefore the Son of man 
is lord also of the Sabbath. 


There is no use of going to extremes with anything. That is, if you 
have work of necessity to do on the Sabbath day, do it. If you have one 
animal to feed, feed it. Keep the balance of the day holy, and you have 
obeyed God’s command. If your neighbor has seven animals to feed, let 
him feed them and keep the balance of the day holy ; then he has obeyed 
God’s command. But if you make a tank, and carry seven pails of feed to 
that tank, to last one creature seven days, though you have carried no more 
food than your neighbor who fed seven beasts, yet you have done unneces- 
sary work, and you have broken God’s command. 

The man that has necessary work to do on the Sabbath day, can do it 
without breaking God’s command ; but the man that has unnecessary work 
to do, must keep God’s command, or enter into spiritual death. Therefore 
the Sabbath was made to fit the man, and not man to fit the Sabbath. 

If a man has no necessary work to do, the Sabbath fits him ; if a man 
has one animal to feed, the Sabbath fits him, and if he have seven cows, or 


the OiirIstiaN sabbath. 


97 


seven times seven, to feed, the Sabbath fits him just the same. Therefore 
the Sabbath is made to fit the man, and not man' to fit the Sabbath. So 
Jesus told us that “ the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sab- 
bath. Therefore the Son of man is Lord of the Sabbath.” But I believe 
that our spirit was created in the image of God, which is freedom. Let 
every person exercise that freedom. 

If I feel that I “ought to obey God 

rather than man,” let me exercise my Acts 5:29. We ought to obey God 
freedom, and keep God’s command with- ., _ , 

out receiving a slur from The children ratiier tnan man. 
of men. 

If you rather obey man than God, you should have that same freedom 
that I have, and be allowed to keep Sunday without a slur from any living 
soul, for the Son of man is lord of the Sabbath. But we cannot find in the 
New Testament that Jesus said that he was Lord of the Sabbath ; neither 
can we find one word to show us that he had one thought of changing the 
Sabbath. 


(Page 33.) JUow can we rejoice on Saturday the Jewish Sabbath, which was the dark 
period that Jesus lay in the grave ? 

Let us look at this. How can we rejoice on God’s chosen day ? Jesus 
came to this world and made a covenant with God that he would do God’s will. 

It was a case of necessity that he should teach the people how to live up 
to God’s word. It was a practise to read and teach the Scriptures on the 
Sabbath-days, therefore it was a case of necessity that Jesus do this work 
on the Sabbath-days. He was a carpenter by trade, but we never read of 
his doing any manual labor on the Sabbath-day. 

When he saw that the serpent was in the mind of Judas he fell upon his 
face and prayed, ‘‘Father, if it be possible for this cup to pass from me, 
let it pass ; but if it be not possible, thy will be done.” And so he did 
God’s will. But Friday was the hardest day’s work that he ever did, yet 
he was faithful to his covenant -with God, and his work was finished just be- 
fore the day was finished, when he was crucified. The Sabbath began at 
sundown. Jesus was laid in the tomb just before sundown, — just before 
the beginning of the Sabbath. He obeys God’s command ; he keeps the 
Sabbath holy : he takes the sweetest rest that man ever took, sleeping in 
the arms of his Father, undisturbed by any human being. His only watch- 
men were the angels from heaven. 

I ask, why should we not rejoice ? Why should we not gather together 
and sing praises unto God, when we look back to the most sacred keeping 
of the Sabbath that was ever kept ? If Jesus ever magnified one of Moses’s 
teachings, it was the keeping of the Sabbath-day. 


He was not dead, but sleeping. These 
are the words of Jesus ; who can deny 
them ? He finished his earthly labors a 
few moments before the Sabbath began. 


Mark 5 : 39. The damsel is not dead, 
but sleepeth. 

Luke 8 : 52. She is not dead, but 
sleepeth. 

John 11:11. Our friend Lazarus 
sleepeth ; but I go that I may awake 
him out of sleep. 


7 


98 


HOW ARE WE LED? 


He entered into the presence of his God. He spent *the entire Sabbath 
with his Father, and as soon as the Sabbath closed, he resumed his earthly 
march again. 

Read and study for yourselves. All that I ask is that } T ou let all honest 
thinkers select for themselves, and worship God on their selected day with- 
out stigmatizing them. But let me ask Elder Gitchell if he can trample 
Jesus’ glorious magnification of obeying God’s own hand-writing under 
foot ? Is it abolished, dead, or done away ? 


(Page 33.) The followers of Christ, ac- 
cording to demand, tarried at Jerusalem 
for the enduement of power, and the first 
day of the week, the Lord's day, they were 
with one accord in one place. This is the 
third meeting on the first day of the week, 
. . . When the Day of Pentecost was fully 


Luke 24 : 49. And behold I send the 
promise of my Father upon you; but 
tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until 
ye be endued with power from on high. 

Verse 52. And they worshiped him, 
and returned to Jerusalem. 

Acts 1 : 13. And when they were 
come in, they went up into an upper 
room, where abode both Peter, and 
James, and John, and Andrew, Philip, 
and Thomas, Bartholomew, and Mat- 
thew, James the son of Alpheus, and 
Simon Zelotes, and Judas the brother of 
James. 

Verse 14. These all continued with 
one accord in prayer and supplication, 
with the women. 

Acts 2:1. And when the day of 
pentecost was fully come, they were all 
with one accord in one place. 

Verse 4. And they were all filled 
with the Holy Ghost. 


CHAPTER VIII. 

PENTECOST, LORD’S DAY, AND OTHER MATTERS. 

(Review of Gitchell, continued.) 

I call your attention to this third meeting on the first clay of the week, 
when the day of pentecost was fully come. 

The Bible only gives us three meetings on the first day of the week, and 
the third one is Paul’s farewell sermon, which took place thirty-seven years 
after this day of pentecost. We will notice that, when we come to Paul’s 
travels, in visiting the different churches. 

I ask each reader to remember this meeting on the day of pentecost. 
On page 33 Elder G. tells us that it is the third meeting, on the first day of 
the week ; by and by he will tell us that it is the seventh meeting, on the 
first day of the week. As he is giving us positive scripture proof, I ask 
my readers where does he get his proof ? 

St. Luke and the Acts of the Apostles tell us that Elder Gitchell is not 
giving us as positive scripture proof as he is pretending to. 


PENTECOST CONSIDERED. 


99 


I would ask my readers to get tlieir Bibles and read the 24th chapter of 
Luke, and the 1st chapter and second verse of Acts, that you may see that 
I have the correct verses, and the true meaning of those verses. And they 
tell us that the disciples returned to Jerusalem, and went into an upper 
room (of a house which I believe to be the house of Amos, where they had 
kept themselves hid for fear of the Jews). Luke says that they were con- 
tinually m the temple. They did not meet there on that day, but were there 
continually. The apostles said they were m an upper room. 


Webster tells us that any place in 
which the divine presence specially re- 
sides is a temple ; and if they were con- 
tinually in an upper room praising and 
worshiping God, they could justly call 
that their temple. I would suppose that 
they kept out of the regular Jewish 
temple about that time. But they were 
continually there, praising and blessing 
God. 

How could this be a Sunday gathering for a Sabbath worship when they 
were continually there ? Not one word is said about what day of the week 
it was ; and we have Scripture proof that it was not a one-day meeting. 
But Gitchell says it was Sunday, on the day of pentecost. 


Luke 24 : 50. And he . . . blessed 
them. 

Yerse 51. And ... he was . . . 
carried up into heaven. 

Verse 52. And they , . . returned 
to Jerusalem. 

Yerse 53. And were continually in 
the temple, praising and blessing God. 


(Page 33.) When the day of jpentecost was fully come , they were all with one accord in 
one place .... and God came down and filled the disciples of the new covenant with the 
Holy , Ghost. 

Let us see what day of the week pentecost came on. We have a new 
moon on any day of the week on which it may happen. In the Jewish 
records, the passover came on the 14th day of the moon, regardless of the 
day of the week. Fifty days from that time would be pentecost, regardless 
of the day of the week. 

Since Constantine’s rulings, we have a day called Easter, which comes on 
Sunday, on the fourteenth, or the first Sunday after the fourteenth day of 
this moon. Seven weeks later we have pentecost, which he also fixed so as 
to come on Sunday. Before Constantine the day of the week was dis- 
regarded ; in fact, pentecost was the fiftieth day, let whatever transaction 
take place that might. Fifty days from that transaction was pentecost, re- 
gardless of the day of the week. At that time they had two days for pen- 
tecost. Fifty days from the crucifixion was pentecost, also fifty days from 
the resurrection was pentecost. The Bible only speaks of one of those days, 
but it does not tell us which one. Our ministers tell us that it is counted 
from the resurrection. They tell us that he came out of the tomb on Sun- 
day, that he was on earth forty days, that he ascended to heaven and re- 
mained there ten days, which made it pentecost. Then he came and 
administered the Holy Ghost. 

As we have learned the Jewish way of counting, we will try it here, to 
find pentecost from his crucifixion. We will count the day that he was cru- 

t L.oFC. 


ioo 


HOW ARK WE LED ? 


cified, Friday, as one, Saturday as two, and Sunday as the third day. We 
remember that Sunday was counted twice ; it was counted as the last day 
that Jesus was in the tomb, and it was counted as the first day that he was 
on earth after the resurrection. So we count Friday one, Saturday two, 
Sunday three, and Sunday again as four, Monday five, and so on up to forty, 
and we find Monday of the sixth week to be the fortieth day, the day that 
he ascended up to heaven. 

As Monday was the last day that Jesus was on earth, it counts forty ; as 
it was the first day that he was in heaven, it was counted again as forty-one, 
Tuesday forty-two, and so on up to fifty, and we find Wednesday of the 
seventh week to be pentecost. But this does not satisfy us, so let us try it 
again, and without counting those days twice. We now find Friday, the day 
he was crucified, as one, Saturday as two, and so on up to fifty, and we find 
the fiftieth day, pentecost, to come on Friday, of the seventh week. Yet 
we are not satisfied. Let us now try the true way of counting, the way we 
count at the present time. We are not allowed to count the first day as one, 
for Jesus had not been dead one day on Friday, but on Saturday he had 
been dead one day ; so Saturday is one, Sunday two, and so on up to fifty, 
and we find Saturday of the seventh week to be pentecost. 

From the crucifixion, in counting three different ways, we have found 
pentecost on three different days, but neither of them, Sunday. Let us 
count from his resurrection, and try the true way of counting, as we count 
at present He arose on Sunday, and as we are not permitted to count the 
first, we begin with Monday as one, and Tuesday as two, and so on up to 
fifty, and we find Monday of the eighth week to be pentecost, still missing 
Sunday. 

Now let us try the Jewish way of counting from his resurrection, and we 
count Sunday as one, Monday as two, and so on up to forty, and w r e find 
Thursday of the sixth week, is forty. As Thursday was the last day that 
he was on earth, it was the fortieth day. As we recollect questioning 
Brother W. and Brother IL for this purpose, and found that Thursday was 
counted as one of the forty days that he was on earth, aud also counted as 
the first of the ten days that he was in heaven, we must count Thursday 
twice ; we must count Thursday as one day in heaven, Friday as two, and 
Saturday of the next week counts out the tenth day in heaven ; and so the 
forty days on earth brings pentecost again on Saturday. 

Now we have found pentecost five times ; twice on Saturday, but neither 
time on Sunday. But we will try it once more. We will count the forty 
days on earth the true way of counting, as we count now, and we will count 
the ten days in heaven, the Jewish way of counting, and it will bring pen- 
tecost on Sunday. 

As he arose on Sunday, Monday is counted one, Tuesday two, and so on 
to forty, and we find Friday of the sixth week the day that he ascended into 
heaven. The Jewish way of counting the ten days he was in heaven, Fri- 
day was one, Saturday two, Sunday three, and Sunday of the next week 
was ten. 


PENTECOST CONSIDERED. 


101 


This brings pentecost on Sunday, but Acts 2:1. And when the dav of 
we cannot find in the Bible what day of pentecost was fully come (Ver. 4,) they 
the week was pentecost. were all filled with the Holy Ghost, etc. 

Whilst Elder Gitchell is giving us Scripture proof, we fail to find it in 
the Bible. If he has found it outside of the Bible, let him tell us where we 
can find it, that we may examine it and see if it is positive Scripture proof. 


(Page 33.) The change under consideration was authorized by apostolic example 
which has all the weight of positive proof , etc. 

He has told us that it was Jesus’ example, and he had positive Scripture 
proof ; now he tells us that it is an apostolic example, and he gives us all 
the weight of positive proof, though the apostles never once spoke of a change. 

(Page 34.) The Lord's day. Acts 20 : 7. 

Again he quotes the phrase ‘ ‘ the Lord’s day. ” This time he quotes it from 
the twentieth chapter of Acts, but it is not found in the whole book of Acts. 

(Page 34.) Now. concerning the collection for the saints, as I have given order to the 
church of Galatia, even so do ye, upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by 
him in store, that there be no gathering when I come. 

We here learn by this scripture that a collection was taken up in the church, or assem- 
blies, on the first day of the week, 

We find in John’s gospel that Jesus drove the money-changers out of the 
place of worship before he was crucified. 

Gitchell says that Paul has gone back into the place of worship, with his 
money changing. Let us examine the second chapter of John, as we look 
at Elder Gitchell’s quotation for scripture proof. 


Let us suppose that Paul intended to 
visit the church some day through the 
week, but he could not tell just what 
day. 


John 2 : 13. And Jesus 
Verse 14. Found in the temple . . . 
changers of money. 

Verse 15. And when he had made a 
scourge of small cords, he drove them all 
out of the temple. 


Let us suppose that he wrote a letter to the church similar to this : “I 
am coming to visit your church some day through the week, and I want 
some money for the saints. Upon the first day of the week let every one of 
you lay by what money you can, and have it ready when I come, so that I 
will not have to wait upon you after I get there. I may be there on the first 
of the week, or it may be later. But lay by what you can, on the first day 
of the week.” Would this infer that each man laid by himself this money 
in meeting time ? or would it look more reasonable that this letter be read 
in the meeting, instructing them what to do upon the first day of the week ? 
If Elder Gitchell thinks that I have made a wrong supposition, can he prove 
by Scripture anything more satisfactory on this point ? 


(Page 34.) I was in the spirit on the 
Lord's day, etc. 

John was in the spirit of prophecy, and 
was under its influence when the first vision 
was exhibited, on the Lord's day, the first 
day of the week ; 


Rev. 1 : 9. For the word of God, and 
for the testimony of Jesus Christ. 

Verse 10. I was in the spirit on the 
Lord’s day, and heard behind me a great 
voice, etc. 


102 


HOW AKE WE LED? 


This is the third time that he has quoted “the Lord’s day.” This time 
he does not give us the place in which it occurs, but we find it in Rev. 1:10, 
the only verse m which it is found in the Bible. 


(Page 34.) This is a Sabbath day , and 
takes place the first day of the week. 

The Lord's day. Acts xx. 7. 

This was Paul’s farewell sermon, 
his travels. 


Acts 20:7. And upon the first day 
of the week when the disciples came to- 
gether to break bread, Paul preached 
unto them, ready to depart on the mor- 
row, and continued until midnight. 

d we will look at it when we come to 


1 Cor. 16 : 1. Now concerning the 
collection for the saints, as I have given 
order to the churches of Galatia, even 
so do ye. 

Verse 2. Upon the first day of the 
week let every one of you lay by him in 
store, as God hath prospered him, that 
there be no gathering when I come. 

His quotations are generally in italic letters ; this might be in Roman 
type for I can hardly call it a quotation, but he tells us where to find it, 
so we will look there. 

(Page 32.) Matt. xxm. 32. This is Matt. 26 : 32. But after I am risen 
Lord's day. again, I will go before you into Galilee. 

On these pages he gives us the Lord’s day, the first day of the week, 
pretty plentifully. 

(Page 34.) These are the statements given in Scripture for the Christian Sabbath , 
while there is no evidence that a Christian assembly met on the seventh day for public 
worship after the resurrection. 


(Page 34.) We readily perceive that 
the assemblies met together on the Lord's 
day , the Christian Sabbath , the first day of 
the week. 1 Cor. xvi, 1, 2. 


I have given you his statements, and opposite them I have given you the 
Bible. Now I leave you to examine the scripture for his scripture statements. 


(Page 34.) John ivas in the spirit of prophecy , and ivas under its influence when the 
first vision was exhibited ; on the Lord's day ; the first day of the week ; the Christian 
Sabbath. 


John was m the spirit on the Lord’s day. But one page back I quoted 
Rev. 1 : 9, 10. I ask my readers to turn back and see if John intimated in 
the least in regard to any particular day of the week. 

(Page 34.) It was called the Lord's day , and has taken the place of the Jewish 
Sabbath. 


When, or where was Sunday called the Lord’s day ? 

(Page 27.) From Adam to Moses there was no Sabbath , and when individuals look 
for one , they will have to look outside of the Bible , outside the histories of nations , and 
search the writings of those who are bound to have one , Bible or no Bible. 

There is no authority in the Bible for keeping the first day of the week 
as a Sabbath. And individuals who are looking for it will have to search 
the writings of those who are bound to have it so, Bible or no Bible. 


HISTORY CONSIDERED. 


103 


(Page 34.) There is no evidence that a Christian assembly met on the seventh day for 
public worship after the resurrection. 

We remember that when we passed his 32nd page, we gave him nine 
different verses that showed him that they went into the synagogues on the 
Sabbath days to worship. And when we get into Paul’s travels, I will quote 
this statement again, and see if we cannot find there that they went into the 
synagogues on the Sabbath days, and read from the Old Testament the law 
and the prophets. 

(Page 34.) Those who profess the Christian religion and choose the Jewish Sabbath , 
have little to support them in the New Testament. 

This hits me. We feel that we are obeying God rather than man. We 
feel that we are following the teachings of Jesus, and we appreciate the 
support that we get without changing it to suit our taste. 

(Page 34. ) How prone is man to affect to be wise above what is written , while he is, 
in almost every respect, below the teaching so plainly laid down in the divine word. 

I would think that this would apply to almost any person who would 
change what is written to bring it to his wisdom. Such people should pray 
to God to change their wisdom so as to bring their wisdom to what is written 
in the teachings of Jesus. 

ELDER GITCHELL’S SABBATH HISTORICALLY. 

(Page 35.) Ignatius was made bishop about the time of the destruction of Jerusalem, 
A. D. 70 . . . in the year 107 . . . was thrown among and devoured by lions . . . some 
time before his death he wrote as follows : . . . let them no longer observe the Jewish Sabbath. 

Pages 35, 36, and 37 are filled with quotations from historical writings. 
I will only quote enough to show the reader that the Sabbath question was 
agitated for 358 years after Jesus was crucified. 

The first that we find the Sabbath question agitated was at the close of 
the life of Ignatius, who was devoured by lions in the year 107. It is very 
probable that he was thrown among the lions for doing his writing. 

(Page 35.) Justin Martyr experienced the Christian faith about the year 132 . . . 
He was imprisoned and died at Rome 165. ... He wrote : On the day called Sunday there 
is a meeting in one place of all who reside whether in the town or in the country. 

The second writing found, agitating this question, was about 165 years 
after the crucifixion. The probability is that Justin Martyr was cast into 
prison for doing his writing. 

. . . (p. 36.) We all assembled together in common on Sunday, because it was the first 
day that Cod, having changed darkness and chaos, made the world, etc. 

We also find that they worshiped on Sunday for some other cause, aside 
from Christianity, in remembrance of when God made the world. 

(Page 36.) Iranceus was made Bishop of Lyons A. D. 176 He writes, . . . 

On the Lord's day every one of us Christians keep the Sabbath, meditating on the law, etc. 

It seems that they began to call Sunday Lord’s day about 150 years after 
the Lord closed his teachings. They kept the Sabbath, meditating on the 
law. Webster says that meditating is planning. They were planning con- 
cerning the law 143 years after Jesus was crucified, 


101 


HOW ARE WE LED? 


(Page 3G.) Hilary was born of wealthy parents He was chosen bishop 

A. D. 353. Hilary writing , . . . The festivity of a perfect sabbath on the eighth , 

which was also the first day of the week. 

More than 320 years after Jesus closed his teachings they succeeded in 
having a perfect Sabbath entertainment, and they recorded it. 

(Page 37.) Eusebius . . . became bishop in 315 . . . thus writes . . . 

These duties more appropriately belong to this day because it has a precedence, is first in 
rank and more honorable than the Jeicish sabbath. 

This writer (Eusebius) must have been a religious man ; though he must 
have loved to obey man rather than God ; he must have loved to worship 
God on Sunday because it was highly honored and made first in rank, being 
a precedent. And he loved to keep that day rather than the day that God 
chose for a sign. And Gitchell expresses that same feeling by placing those 
words anew before the public. 

“More honorable” than the day that God chose for a sign. When 
Gitchell goes to heaven, and gives the new sign, will God honor or recognize 
the new sign ? When man is taught, and knows no difference, God knows 
no difference with him ; but when man deceivingly teaches it, will God meet 
him with his highly honored sign, and recognize that sign ? 

(Page 42.) It is a grossly absurd statement that Constantine changed the Sabbath. 

. . . It was no order to the church , but to the subjects of his kingdom. 

No. Constantine did not change the Sabbath, he only changed the law, 
and the law changed the Sabbath. 

(Page 37.) Ambrose, Bishop of Milan, says, A. D. 301 : The Lord's day is sacred. 

Yes, Constantine passed the law that they have so long meditated upon, 
and thus made it sacred. 

(Page 37.) It is unnecessary to bring evidence below Constantine the Great. 

Yes, it is unnecessary ! Constantine has passed the law ; it is signed and 
sealed, and there is no use to bring any farther proof. 

Constantine changed the Sabbath in his own kingdom where the Catholic 
church was instituted, and the Catholic church afterward ruled most all 
countries, and carried the Sabbath day with it. 

Dear readers, Elder Gitchell wrote thirty-four pages in his little book, 
telling us that Jesus and his apostles changed the Sabbath day by the ex- 
ample that they set before us. And he told us that he would give us scrip- 
ture proof, and he told us that he would demand positive proof from us, 
and that proof he would demand. 

Dear readers, what was his proof ? The words of God ? No. The 
words of Jesus ? No. Then what was it ? The new Sabbath history. 
Where did he begin to search for it ? In the teachings of Jesus (the first 
four books of the New Testament)? No. In the teachings of the apostles ? 
No. Then where did he find his proof ? In the historical records of the 
bishops of Rome. When did he begin to search those records? In the 
days of Jesus ? No. In the days of the apostles ? No. In the days of 
Ignatius, a Roman Bishop ? Yes. It was eighty-four years after Jesus 
was crucified. 


HISTORY OOftSrDEKED. 105 

How long was this question agitated ? He has shown us agitating rec- 
ords for 274 years. Has he proved that Jesus was the establisher of the 
new sabbath ? No. Then what has he proved ? He has proved that Con- 
stantine was a Roman bishop, a ruler of the church, and a king and a ruler 
of the nation. Constantine, the ruler of both church and nation, established 
the new sabbath. When ? 290 years after the last chapter of the New 
Testament was written. Has he given us Scripture proof ? I will not try 
to answer this question, but ask every reader to give his own answer, in his 
own mind, when he has studied the Bible. 

(Page 37.) I now introduce a number of suggestions to strengthen what has been said ; 

Ho any of my readers think that Elder Gitchell’s remarks need strength- 
ening ? Would a little strength change his remarks into scripture proof ? 

(Page 18.) Having proven by scripture . . . that no Sabbath was given or kept 

for two thousand five hundred thirteen years from the creation. 

He has tried to prove that there was no Sabbath given or kept until 
Moses kept it. But his scripture proof is silent on this point. 

(Page 25.) Adam had a law ; . . Whether that law had a sabbath is impossi- 
ble to determine. 

He himself has not got as much faith in his scripture proof as he wants 
us to have. 

(Page 38.) Adam had a law; . . . That law passed away, Sabbath and all. 

He claims to have proven that there was no Sabbath until Moses kept it, 
but in looking at Adam’s law he thinks there might have been a Sabbath. 

But that Sabbath passed away, and is out of existence now, Gitchell 
would have us believe. 

ELDER GITCHELL’s SUGGESTION. 

(Page 38.) Pray ye that your flight be 
not on the Sabbath day. 

Why this caution f 

1. The Christians wen'e closely watched 
and imprisoned for violation of the sabbath. 

2. For a long time a large number of Jews 
were tenacious for the law, and their scru- 
ples would have deferred their escape. 

In his “suggestions” he begins to quote scripture again, and in his 
very first attempt, he leaves out four words without either dot or tittle to 
show the vacancy. Then he fails to tell us where to find it, but we find it 
in Matt. 24 : 20. They are the words of Jesus to his followers. Jesus tells 
his followers that they would be punished, and afflicted, and killed, and that 
those who could flee to the mountains should do so. 

Gitchell asks, “ Why this caution ? ” and he answers : Because they were 
watched, and could not get away on the Sabbath day. Hoes it look reason- 
able that Jesus would tell his disciples that when the trouble came, for them 
to flee, but pray do n’t flee when they are watching you so closely that you 
cannot get away ? Hoes Matt. 24 : 20 give us scripture proof to that effect? 


Matt. 24 : 9. Then shall they deliver 
you up to be afflicted, and shall kill 
you : 

Verse 16. Then let them which be in 
Judea flee into the mountains. 

Verse 20. But pray ye that your flight 
be not in the winter, neither on the 
Sabbath day. 


106 


HOW ARE WE LED ? 


(Page 39.) The keeping of the Christian sabbath six times before pentecost is the same 
prelude as the Jewish sabbath, which was kept before the giving of the law. 

We remember on p. 33 where the disciples were assembled for fear of 
the Jews, that Elder Gitchell told us, “ This is the third meeting on the first 
day of the week. ... When the day of pentecost was fully come.’ ’ 
Here he tells us that it is the seventh meeting, that they have kept the day 
six times before the day of pentecost. 

(Page 39.) The ministration of death, written and engraved in stone , was done away. 

We remember that we had this once before, and we got the Bible and 
copied every one of the commandments, and we found them entirely void of 
this statement. This was not written on the stone in any shape. 

(Page 39.) It was not the penalty of the law that was done away, for that was never 
written in stone. 

He did at one time take the whole Old Testament into his old covenant, 
but now he brings it down to the stone writing again, and adds things that 
were not written on the stone. 

(Page 39.) It was not the glory of that law . ... or the dazzling splendor 

of Moses ’ face when he brought the law , .... for neither of those were engraved 

in stone. 

We remember that on p. 18 he quoted from Paul’s writings, and left out 
the word “glory” without dot or tittle to mark the place, and then made 
this statement. Here he gives it to us with as much apparent candor as 
though God was putting the words in his mouth. 

(Page 18.) But if the ministration of 2 Cor. 3 : 7. But if the ministration of 
death written and engraved in stone was death, written and engraved in stone, 

glorious, . . . which was to be done away, wa s glorious which glory was to 

etc. be done away; 

We will go right back to p. 18, and compare his quotations with Paul’s 
writing, and look for that word “glory.” Now we find that he quoted the 
first thirteen words, correctly, with the exception of leaving out two commas ; 
he also left out the next twenty words, but dotted them so that we could 
see that there was a vacancy. But in quoting the last seven words of this 
verse, he only got in six words, and where are his signs of omission ? In 
this verse the last six w r ords of Paul’s statement says, the ‘ ‘ glory was to be 
done away.” The first five words of Gitchell’s statement on p. 39 says, “It 
was not the glory.” Surely man could not contradict the Bible more 
plainly. 

I would not blame Elder Gitchell if he would come out honestly and say 
that Paul was possessed of human frailty, and tell us that he believed in 
things different from Paul’s views. If he would come out honestly, and 
say this about any of the Bible writers, I would say, Amen, for I know that 
all human beings are frail, and though they are trying to do what they may 
think is right, j T et they are liable to err. But when man comes out and 
changes the Scripture on purpose, and then deceivingly defrauds us by tell- 
ing us that it is positive Scripture proof, I feel that it is more the works 
or Satan than of human frailty. 


THE COVENANT QUESTION. 


107 


(Page 41.) When the covenant contain- 
ing the Jewish Sabbath was done away, its 
Sabbath ceased, and the Lord made onefoi' 
his covenant, and after it was made Christ 
was never known to hold service with his 
disciples, or to go to a synagogue on the 
seventh day. 


Matt. 18 : 19, 20. Again I say unto 
yon, where two or three are gathered 
together in my name, there am I in the 
midst of them. 


Let me ask again, what is a covenant ? A covenant is a bargain, and 
God makes a new covenant with every person that will make a covenant with 
God. And it is impossible for me to make a covenant for yon to live 
by. God gave us his commandments. I may make a covenant half a mile 
long, but if I leave those commands out, my covenant is good for nothing ; 
but if I put those commands in my covenant, God accepts it. You may 
make a covenant of one hundred words, with those ten commandments in it, 
and your covenant is just as good as mine. All that God requires is, that 
each person shall make his own covenant, and put God’s part into that cove- 
nant ; then God will accept it. You cannot expect to make a covenant just 
as you please, unless you please to make it as God may please ; and have 
God accept it. 

But, I have left Elder Gitchell’s little book ; let me go back to that. The 
Elder said when the covenant ceased that contained the Jewish Sabbath, 
the Sabbath ceased ; that is correct. When Moses ceased, his covenant 
ceased, and his Sabbath. But how many honest-hearted Israelites have 
taken up that same covenant, ancj that same Sabbath, and put them into 
their covenant, and kept them sacred, until life ceased with them ? Jesus 
was the truest hearted one ever recorded that took God’s same word, contain- 
ing the same Sabbath, and put it into his covenant. And he kept that 
Sabbath just as sacredly as it was ever kept by an Israelite. Though he did 
not go to extremes and commit a wrong by putting off necessary work, as 
the Jews did. And when Jesus ceased, his covenant ceased with him. But 
liis teachings are in the Book to teach you and me to follow his example and 
covenant for ourselves. 

Let our ministers tell us that Jesus’ new teachings are there, and we 
will accept it ; but when they tell us that Jesus’ new covenant is there, I 
cannot accept it. I could not find Jesus’ covenant between the lids of the 
Bible, and I felt that I must make a covenant of my own. 

Again, Gitchell said that “the Lord made one for his covenant.” I ask, 
who was the Lord ? Bid God command that a new day be kept for the 
Sabbath ? Bid Jesus and his apostles give all their teachings, without writ- 
ing one word of this new command ? 1 1 Thou shalt have no other Gods be- 
fore me.” Bid Jesus come in front of God, and make this new Sabbath ? 
if so, was he afraid or ashamed to speak of it ? Or did his apostles become 
Lord, and make this Sabbath, and then fear to speak of it ? Again I ask, 
Who was this Lord that made the new Sabbath, and then feared to speak of 
it ? It cannot be possible that Jesus made it, for Elder Gitchell said, ‘ ‘ After 
it was made, Christ was never known to hold service with his disciples, or to 
go to a synagogue on the Sabbath day.” As for Jesus, we find many places 
where he entered the synagogues on the Sabbath days, and opened and read 
the Scriptures. 


108 


HOW ARK WE LED 


And we find In his teachings, Matt. Matt. 18 : 20. Where two or three 

18:20, that he told his disciples that are gathered together in my name, there 

where they were gathered together in am I in the midst of them, 
his name, there he would be in their 
midst. 

If Christ has never entered a synagogue on Saturday, since the new sab- 
bath was instituted, it must be that he went back on the words of Jesus ; 
for Jesus said where two or three are gathered together in my name I will be 
in the midst of them. If Christ never entered a synagogue on Saturday, 
Paul’s work was useless, for in his travels he entered the new countries, 
instructed the new churches, and started them anew, but on the old Sabbath. 
Perhaps he intended after they got to running well to have them change 
from the old Sabbath to the new ! They could change better after they got 
well agoing than they could in the start. But however this may be, Paul 
forgot to speak about it. If Christ never entered a synagogue on the Sab- 
bath day, all seventh-day proclaimers might as well throw up their religion, 
and all Christian preachers should adjourn their protracted meetings over 
Saturday. 

(Page 41.) To f ulfill is to . . complete. 

This covenant was the law, .... and Christ, Cod's son, was to complete it. 

Think not that I am come to destroy the law or the prophets. I am not come to destroy, 
but to fulfill. 

To this I say Amen. Moses began a great religious teaching, and he 
was not perfect enough to complete it. Jesus came not to do away with 
Moses’ teachings, but to complete them. And when he completed the teach- 
ings of the fourth commandment, he made a success. 

(Page 22 ) Owe no man anything, but to love one another ; for he that loveth another 
hath fulfilled the law. 

Prov. 15:17. Better is a dinner of herbs where love is, than a stalled 
ox and hatred therewith. 

Gitchell has quoted this from Paul’s writings. But Paul was fulfilling 
the righteousness found in the Old Testament. He was trying to complete 
the teachings that were already in the Scriptures. 

(Page 22.) The whole law is fulfilled or completed in the experience of love. This is 
a spiritual covenant ; the great feature of it is love, and is carried on by faith. 

On page 41 Gitchell said, Jesus completed, finished up, abolished, 
ended, and done away with God’s word, which was written on the stone, by 
fulfilling it. 

On page 22 he is teaching us a new covenant for us all to keep, and he 
goes right back to Paul and shows us how they fulfilled the new covenant in 
Paul’s time. Let me ask, If Jesus killed the old covenant by fulfilling it, 
why did not Paul kill the new covenant when he fulfilled it ? 

(Page 40.) The covenant given on Sinai was engraved in stone by the finger of Cod. 

(Page 41.) And Christ the Son of Cod was to complete it 

To fulfill is to complete. 

(Page 17.) This scripture tells us that the writing of Cod on the tables was the 
covenant . . . and that it was the ten commandments. 

(Page 28.) The law given to Israel was abrogated, done away, abolished, dead . 


THE COVENANT QUESTION. 


109 


Words could not speak plainer than Elder Gitchell lias spoken here, that 
the ten commandments are the law ; that the ten commandments are the old 
covenant ; and that the ten commandments are that part of the Old Testa- 
ment which Jesus abolished, made dead, and done away. 

Let us look into the teachings of Jesus and see what he said about this 
law being done away. 


I think we had better take the words 
of Jesus than those of our preachers. 
Jesus never did any writing. If we 
should believe the writings of Matthew, 
Mark, Luke, or John (who were men of 
human frailty, for no human being is 
free from that frailty), if we should 
believe the writings of those men, we 
should believe the writings of Moses. 
All the difference between the writings 
of Moses and the writings of Jesus was, 
Jesus’ writings are more full of the 
Spirit of God. All the difference be- 
tween Jesus and Moses was, Jesus was 
more filled with the Spirit of God than 
Moses was. They were far advanced in 
godliness. Jesus was born and raised a 
Son of God, whilst Moses was raised with 
permission to enter into first death, and 
then become an adopted son of God. 
Now after Moses has told us that this 
was God’s own handwriting, and after 
Jesus has told us that one jot or one 
tittle shall in nowise pass from this 
law, shall we abolish the weightier part 
of the Old Testament ? Why not abolish 
Moses’ teachings and preserve God’s own 
handwriting ? 


The words of Jesus, Matt. 5 : 17. 
Think not that I am come to destroy 
the law, or the prophets : I am not come 
to destroy, but to fulfil. 

Verse 18. For verily I say unto you, 
Till heaven and earth pass, one iot or 
one tittle shall in nowise pass from the 
law [Gitchell says that you and 1 can 
fulfil the law of love, after Paul fulfilled 
it] till all be fulfilled. 

Luke 16 : 17. And li is easier for 
heaven and earth to pass, than one tittle 
of the law to fail. 

John 7 : 19. None of you keepeth the 
law. 

Chap. 10 : 35. The Scripture cannot 
be broken. 

Matt. 23 : 23. Woe unto you, . . . 
for ye . . . have omitted the weightier 
matters of the law. 


(Page 46.) The spirit teas sent at a time when the followers of Christ had met for 
religious worship, on the first day of the week. 

This is the fourth time that he has made this statement, so I will leave 
their religious assembly m the house of Amos, “for fear of the Jews.” 


A little business teas attended to, then the praying commenced , and the Holy Ghost 
entered the room. 


Elder G. cannot find one word to sustain this statement, that even inti- 
mates such a thing. 


(Page 47.) You who want a day that is but a sign and a shadow , take the seventh 
day and try and lift it out of the grave. 

Gitchell is a man that will not undertake a thing unless he can prove it, 
and if he cannot prove it by true scripture, he can change the scripture so 
as to make positive proof, and if that is not sufficient, he will repeat it three 
or four times, and then bluff a little. 

(Page 48.) They tell us that the Christian meeting on the first day of the week only 
happened so. 

This is something that I had never thought of, but we will follow him 
through and see how it happened. 


110 


HOW ARE WE LED? 


When we were looking over the Jewish way of counting, I stated that 
Elder Gitchell would tell us that the children of Israel killed their passover 
lambs on Friday, and we left it that way. We also remember that the 
twelfth chapter of Exodus told that the lambs were killed on the fourteenth 
day of the month, and Chap. 16:1 tells us that they camped in the Wilder- 
ness of Sin on the fifteenth day of the second month ; and Chap. 19:1 
tells us that on the same day of the third month they camped in Sinai, in 
front of Mount Sinai. We also remember that after allowing the lambs to be 
killed on Friday, that by the very closest count we could make, it must 
have been sixty-two days from the time they left Egypt before the law was 
given on Mount Sinai. Now as we pass through those things, which he says 
happened so, we will watch for this sixty-two days, also for other events, 
which I have called your attention to, as we have come along. 

(Page 48.) At the passover, the children of Israel were delivered from bondage. 

The next morning they took their flight. Just fifty days from that morning the Lord 
came down on Sinai and established a covenant with Israel, which was a government of 
law. This is pentecost. 

Is this is in accordance with the 12th chapter of Exodus ? 

He must take this from profane histoiy, or elsewhere, but not from the 
Bible. For that reason I leave you to your own confidence in all he says ; 
for I cannot get the records to compare with : all that I can do is to search 
the Bible. 

He says, just fifty days from that morning. The very closest count that 
we can find in the Bible gives us sixty-two days. Which shall we believe, 
Gitchell or the Bible ? 


(Page 48.) The passover icas typical 
of Christ. 

The law teas typical of the Gospel. 

Precisely the same day of the year, the 
same day of the week, and the same hour of 
the day they killed the passover, Christ teas 
crucified. 

(Page 48.) Precisely the same day of 
the year, 4he same day of the week, and the 
same hour of the day that God came down 
on Sinai and delivered the law, the Holy 
Ghost came down and established the new 
covenant. 


Ex. 12 : 6. And the whole assembly 
of the congregation of Israel shall kill it 
in the evening. 

Acts 5 : 29. Then Peter and the other 
apostles said, We ought to obey God 
rather than man. 

Luke 22 : 7. Then came the day 
. . . when the passover must be killed. 

Verse 8. And he sent Peter and John, 
saying, Go and prepare us the passover. 

Verse 11. Where I shall eat the pass- 
over with my disciples. 

Verse 14. And when the hour was 
come, he sat down, and the twelve 
apostles with him. 

Verse 15. And he said . . . I . . . 
eat this passover with you before I 
suffer : 

Verse 10. For ... I will not any 
more eat thereof, until all be fulfilled. 

Verse 47. And while he yet spake 
. . . Judas . . . drew near unto Jesus 
to kiss him. 

Verse 48. But Jesus said unto him, 
Judas, betray est thou the Son of man 
with a kiss ? 


PENTECOST AND OTHER MATTERS. 


Ill 


Here Gitchell tells us that the passover was typical of Christ ; that the 
law (the ten commandments), was typical of the gospel. The killing of the 
lambs (Gitchell says) was on the same day of the week on which Jesus was 
crucified. This was Friday. 

He tells us that the lambs were killed the same hour of the day that Jesus 
was crucified ; this was about three o’clock in the afternoon. The Bible 
tells us that they were killed in the evening. Which shall we believe, the 
Bible, or Gitchell ? Peter and the other apostles would say, we ought to 
believe God rather than man. 

I receive my information from the books of Exodus, Acts, and Luke. 
And for the next few lines I shall write as though I was knowing to what 
I say. 

The lambs were slain in the evening, on the 14th day of the first month in 
the year. The supper was eaten after the lambs were slain ; I shall venture 
to say at nine o’clock in thej night. And always after that time they ate 
their passover supper at that hour of the night, and on the 14th day of the 
first month in the year. 

Now the Bible tells us that those lambs were eaten after they were slain, 
and I believe they were. St. Luke tells us in Chap. 22 : 14 that when the 
hour had come, Jesus sat down with his twelve apostles, and he told them 
that he would eat that supper with them before he suffered. The lambs 
were eaten after they suffered, and the supper was eaten at the same hour .of 
the night. That supper was eaten both times on the 14th day of the first 
month, aud it must have been the 14th day of the year, — both years. The 
lambs were slain before supper, and Jesus was slain after supper. How 
could Jesus have been crucified on the same day of the year, and same hour 
of the day, when the one was slain in the evening, and the other in the day 
time ? when the one was slain before supper, and the other after supper ? 
The Bible tells us that the supper was eaten when the day and hour cometh 
for supper. Gitchell must have got his typical information from some pro- 
fane history. 


CHAPTER IX. 

PENTECOST AND KINDRED TOPICS. 

{Review of Gitchell Continued,) 

Next he tells us that precisely the same day of the year, the same day 
of the week, and the same hour of the day, that God gave the law on Sinai, 
the Holy Ghost came into the house where the disciples were assembled for 
fear of the Jews. Tho Bible tells us that the Holy Ghost came down on the 
day of pentecost. Noah Webster says that pentecost is just fifty. The 
Bible tells us, as the day began at sundown, they slew the lambs in the 
evening, ate their supper in the night, and took their flight in the morning 
of the 14th day of the first month. They camped in the Wilderness of Sin, 


112 


HOW ARE WE LED? 


on the fifteenth day of the second month, and on the same day of the third 
month, they camped in the Wilderness of Sinai, in front of Mount Sinai. 
After they camped there, Moses went up on the mountain ; then he went 
down and sanctified the people three days before the word of God came. 

The closest count that we can make from the Bible, allowing twenty- 
nine days to the month, gives us sixty-two days. A moon requires twenty- 
nine and one-half days. A moon is a Jewish month. Can sixty- two days 
be typical of pentecost, which is fifty ? He must have got this from profane 
history ; but he tells us it is scripture proof, and asks scripture proof from 
us, and that proof he insists on having. 

Had Gitchell told us that their flight from their bondage, after their 
supper, was typical of the flight of Jesus’ spirit from his earthly bondage, 
after his supper, I would say, Amen. 

Let us look at Elder Gitchell’s statement once more. He tells us that 
Jesus was slain on Friday, on the same day of the week, and same hour of 
the day that the passover lambs were slain. The next morning the children 
of Israel took their flight. This morning must have been Saturday morn- 
ing. He says fifty days from Saturday morning God gave the law on Sinai. 
Then he goes to the crucifixion of Jesus and counts fifty days from Friday ; 
or he goes to the resurrection and counts fifty days from Sunday, to find 
when the Holy Ghost was administered, where they were assembled for 
fear of the Jews. 

Can fifty days be counted from Friday, or can fifty days be counted from 
Sunday, from the resurrection, and come out on precisely the same day of 
the week that it will to count it from Saturday whence the Israelites took 
their journey ? This leaves him lame again, and it must have been taken 
from profane history. It is not scripture proof. 

(Page 48.) This is pentecost. On the first day of the week. 

The moon that fulls on or after the 20th of March, is the first moon of 
the Jewish year. And because Constantine named the first Sunday after 
this full moon Easter Sunday, we still call it Easter Sunday. 

Jesus arose on the first Sunday after that full moon, or on the 16th da} r 
of the moon. 


Because Constantine named the 
pentecost, we still call it pentecost, 
Neither does it prove that pentecost 
once came fifty days after the 14th 
the day of the week. 

(Page 49.) Some efforts have been made 
to construe Acts xvi. 13 to mean a Chris- 
tian assembly. But all that is necessary 
is just to invite you to read carefully the 
preceding part of the chapter , and you will 
see that no Christian had ever been in that 
country . 


seventh Sunday after Easter Sunday, 
though it is not just fifty days later, 
always came on Sunday. Pentecost 
day of the March moon, regardless of 

Acts 16:1. Then came he [Paul] to 
Derbe and Lystra : and, behold, a cer- 
tain disciple was there. 

Yerse 4. And as they went through 
the cities, they delivered them the de- 
crees for to keep, that were ordained of 
the apostles. 


TEACHINGS OF THE BOOK OF ACTS. 


113 


Elder Gitckell says that some have tried to construe Acts 16 : 13 to 
mean a Christian assembly. And he asks us to read the first part of the 
chapter, and we will see that there had never been a Christian in that part 
of the country. 

But the very first verse of the chapter shows that Christians were there. 
But we will not stop at the first verse, but follow Paul clear through his 
travels, and we shall find Christians all the way through. 

But suppose Elder Gitchell is right, that Paul was the first Christian 
ever in those countries, establishing new churches, and delivering the apos- 
tolic decrees, what will that prove ? It will only prove that he started 
those new churches on Saturday instead of Sunday. 

(P a £>e 41.) Its sabbath ceased, and Matt. 18:20. For where two or three 
the Lord made one . . . and , after it was 

made , Christ was never known to hold are gathered together in my name, there 
services with his apostles , or go to a syna- am j m ^ s j. 

gogue on the seventh day. 

Let me ask : Could Paul do better in establishing those new churches, 
and running them for a time, on the Sabbath day without the aid of Christ, 
as Christ never entered a synagogue nor assembled with his apostles on the 
Sabbath day, after the new Sabbath was made ? Could Paul do better in 
running those churches for a time on the Sabbath day, and then changing 
over to the first day of the week, than he could to start on the first day of 
the week and have the aid of Christ from the start ? 


(Page 49.) Some efforts have been made Acts 16 : 13. And on the Sabbath 
to construe Acts xvi. 13 to mean a Christian we went out of the city by a river side, 
, 7 , where prayer was wont to be made ; and 

aS8mW ^ we sat down, and spake, etc. 

Did Paul go there to speak to himself alone, or to speak to the birds '? 
Or did he go to speak to the people ? Was that prayer which was wont to be 
made for evil purposes, or was it wont to be made for religious purposes ? 


As Paul was traveling through the dif- 
ferent countries, delivering the decrees, 
and preaching Christianity, he must 
have went where Christian prayer was 
wont to be made. 


Did Paul make a practice of holding 
his assemblies on the Sabbath days ? 
And, at the same time, tell them, that 
those are not Christian assemblies ; for 
Christ was not with them ; but, come 
together on the first day of the week ; 
then Christ will be with you, and your 
assembly will be a Christian assembly ? 


Acts 13 : 14. But when they departed 
from Perga, they came to Antioch in 
Pisidia, and went into the synagogue on 
the Sabbath day, and sat down. 

Verse 15. And after the reading of 
the law and the prophets, the rulers of 
the synagogue sent unto them, saying, 
Ye men and brethren, if ye have any 
word of exhortation for the people, say 
on. 

Verse 16. Then Paul stood up, and 
beckoning with his hands said, 

Verse 26. To you is the word of this 
salvation sent. . . . 

Verse 27. Which are read every Sab- 
bath day. 


8 


114 


now ARE WE LED '( 


(Page 32. ) The able ministers . . . tell 
us that the apostles . . . went to the syna- 
gogues on the sabbath days to worship, but 
they hare not given us one example. 


Verse 28. Yet desired they Pilate 
that he should be slain. 

Verse 27. Because they knew him 
not, nor yet the voices of the prophets 
which are read every Sabbath day, 

Verse 38. Be it known unto you 
therefore, men and brethren, etc. 

Verse 42. The Gentiles besought that 
these words might be preached to them 
the next Sabbath. 

Verse 44. And the next Sabbath day 
came almost the whole city together to 
hear the word of God. 


Can he say that the New Testament has not given one example ? 


This present sermon of Paul’s was not 
a protracted meeting ; they did not say, 
Let the word of God be preached to us 
again tomorrow, the first day of the 
week ; the second day of the week ; or 
on any other day of the week ; but the 
next Sabbath. 

On page 33, Gitchell was very easy to 
see the manner in which the scripture 
which he quoted from the twentieth 
chapter of Acts was introduced. That 
scripture said not a word about a Sun- 
day sabbath, but by the way it was 
introduced he thought it was Paul’s 
intention. But here, where the Scrip- 
ture speaks of Paul’s manner, he cannot 
see one example. 

Here Paul taught them the Scripture 
every Sabbath. What was this Scrip- 
ture, except the Old Testament ? 

Gitchell told us that he would give 
us Scripture proof. 

I will not try to prove any thing ; I 
will only show you his proof, as far as I 
can find it, and I will present the Scrip- 
ture according to the best of my judg- 
ment. Then I will ask every reader to 
Study and form his own conclusions. 

I sometimes write as though I was 
knowing to what I write, but I ask you 
to study the Scripture and test my argu- 
ments. 

This scripture is so plain that it is 
scarcely necessary for me to make re- 
marks, only to say that Paul preached 
in the synagogues on the Sabbath days, 
not only once, but for seventeen years, 


Chap. 14: 1. And it came to pass in 
Iconium, that they went both together 
into the synagogue of the Jews, and so 
spake, that a great multitude both of 
the Jews and also of the Greeks, be- 
lieved. 

Chap. 17 : 2. And Paul, as his man- 
ner was, went in unto them, and three 
Sabbath days reasoned with them out of 
the Scripture, 

Chap. 18 : 1. After those things Paul 
. . . came to Corinth 

Verse 2. And found a certain Jew 
named Aquila, 

Verse 3. And because he was of the 
same craft, he abode with them, 

Verse 4. And he reasoned in the 
synagogue every Sabbath, and persuaded 
the Jews and Greeks. 

Verse 7. And he departed thence, 
and entered into a certain man’s house, 
named Justus, one that worshiped God, 
whose house joined hard to the syna- 
gogue. 

Verse 8. And Crispus, the chief ruler 
of the synagogue, believed on the Lord 
with all his house. 

Verse 11. And he continued there a 
year and six months, teaching the word 
of God among them. 

Verse 18. And Paul after this tarried 
there yet a good while, and then took 
his leave of the brethren. 

Verse 22. And when he had landed 
at Cesarea, and gone up, and saluted the 
church, he went down to Antioch. 


TEACHINGS OF THE BOOK OF ACTS. 


115 


on his travels through those cities and 
countries. And that was teaching the 
scriptures of the Old Testament which 
Gitchell says Jesus abolished and laid 
aside. The New Testament, except the 
first four books, were not yet written. 
Paul read the law and the prophets from 
that Old Testament. 


Verse 23. And after he had spent 
some time there, he departed, and went 
over all the country of Galatia and 
Phrygia in order, strengthening all the 
disciples. 

Verse 27. And when he was disposed 
to pass into Achaia, the brethren wrote, 
exhorting the disciples to receive him : 
who, when he came, helped them much 
which had believed through grace : 


Acts 18:11, tells us that Paul staid at one place one year and six months, 
teaching the Scriptures which was the Old Testament : And he read and 
taught them the law and the prophets which Gitchell said Jesus had abolished 
and laid aside. He traveled and taught the Old Testament Scriptures from 
ten to twenty-seven years after Jesus was crucified : And this teaching was 
in the synagogues and on the Sabbath days. Why did not Paul conduct 
his church services on the first day of the week where he stayed a year and a 
half in one place ? 

When the apostle had finished his travels, and was about ready to return 
to Jerusalem, he tarried at Troas seven days ; and it appears that they pre- 
pared a farewell supper for him, and he preached a farewell sermon to 
them. Now I speak again without proof ; I say it appears to me that they 
prepared a farewell supper for Paul. But it was too much work to prepare 
this supper on the Sabbath day, and as he had been there seven days 
perhaps holding a protracted meeting, as soon as the Sabbath was ended, 
and the first day of the week began, at sundown, they came together for a 
farewell sermon. Paul preached until midnight. 


(Page 33.) And upon the first day of 
the week, when his disciples came together to 
break bread, Paul preached unto them, 
ready to depart on the morrow. 

The manner in which this scripture is 
introduced teaches that it was the custom 
to meet statedly on the first day of the week ; 
again, that it was their practice to take the 
sacrament on that day. 


(Page 51.) We are told . . . that the 
Lord is now giving the light on the seventh 
day Sabbath . . . {which) . . . has been 
hid from the understanding of the Christian 
nation since the dark ages. This statement 
is certainly false. 

(Page 32.) The able ministers . . . 
tell us that the Apostles and Christains 
went to the synagogues on the seventh day 


Acts 20 : 6. And . . . came unto them 
to Troas . . . where we abode seven 
days. 

Verse 7. And upon the first day of 
the week, when the disciples came to- 
gether to break bread, Paul preached 
unto them, ready to depart on the mor- 
row ; and continued his speech until 
midnight. 

Verse 9. And there sat in the window 
a certain young man . . . and fell down 
from the third loft, 

Verse 10. And Paul went down, and 
fell on him, 

Verse 11. When he therefore was 
come up again, and had broken bread, 
and eaten, and talked a long while, even 
till break of day, so he departed. 

Verse 17. And ... he sent . . . 
and called the elders of the church. 

Verse 18. And when they were come 
to him, he said unto them, Ye know, from 
the first day that I came into Asia, after 


116 


HOW ARE WE LED ? 


sabbath to worship , but they have not 
given us one example. 


(Page 23.) This small treatise on the 
sabbath is presented to the public because 
of certain persons claiming to be Christian 
ministers . . . endeavoring to introduce the 
seventh day sabbath as obligatory upon the 
Christian world. 

This product is prepared to refute their 
claims. 


what manner I have been with you at 
all seasons, 

Verse 20. And how I kept back 
nothing that was profitable unto you, 
but have showed you, and have taught 
you publicly, and from house to house. 

Verse 25. And now, behold, I know 
that ye all . . . shall see my face no 
more. 

Verse 27. For I have not shunned to 
declare unto you all the counsel of God. 

Verse 35. I have showed you all 
things, how ... ye ought to support 
the weak, and remember the words of 
the Lord Jesus. 

Verse 36. And when he had thus 
spoken, he kneeled down, and prayed 
with them all. 

Verse 37. And they all wept sore, 
and fell on Paul’s neck, and kissed him. 

Verse 38. Sorrowing most of all for 
the words which he spake, that they 
should see his face no more. 

Verse 16. For ... he hasted, if it 
were possible for him, to be at Jerusalem 
the day of Pentecost. 


Let us go back to page 33, and see what Elder G. says about this ser- 
mon. 

The manner in which this scripture is introduced strikes Elder Gitchell 
forcibly, but when Paul said it was his manner to go into the synagogues on 
the Sabbath days, Gitchell could not accept that as even one example. 

I would rather take plain words than to conjecture about the manner in 
which it is introduced. 

From the thirteenth to the twentieth chapters of Acts, we understand 
that Paul had been traveling and preaching in those cities in Asia for seven- 
teen years, without once speaking of the first day of the week, or a Christian 
sabbath. 

But Gitchell says that certain persons claiming to be Christian ministers 
have said that the Lord is now giving light on the seventh day Sabbath, 
which ‘‘statement is certainly false.” 

Let me call your attention to his statement on p. 32, and let me ask you, 
Are the last eight words of that statement false ? Then let me ask, What has 
Elder Gitchell written his treatise for ? To refute the works of the true 
Christian worker ? Why does he want to refute their works ? Because they 
do not change the words of the Bible ? We should try to read and under- 
stand the Scripture just as it is written. 

Now as for this meeting, on the first day of the week, we find that Paul 
was about to return to Jerusalem from Asia. 

Acts 20 : 6 tells us that he came to Troas, where he staid seven day 3 ; 


11 ? 


TEACHINGS OP THE BOOK OP ACTS. 

whether he held a protracted meeting or not is more than we know ; but as 
soon as the Sabbath had closed, at sundown, they came together to do work 
that was not right to do on the Sabbath day. They came together to get up 
a farewell supper for Paul, for he was going to leave them, never to see 
them again. 

The 7th verse tells us that Paul spoke until midnight. The 9th verse 
tells us that a young man fell from the window, and that Paul went down 
and tarried with him for a time. This must have taken until after midnight. 
The 11th verse tells us that after Paul had taken care of the young man, he 
came np again, and ate his supper, and preached until break of day. The 
17th and 18th verses tell us that Paul called the elders together at this meet- 
ing to instruct them. The 20th verse tells us that Paul had kept back noth- 
ing that was profitable to them, but had taught them publicly. But he did 
not tell them a word about a new sabbath day. He has been with them, 
traveling from city to city, and teaching them, but he has never spoken a 
word of a new sabbath ; and yet he tells them that he has taught them all 
things that were of value to them. The 25th verse tells them that they 
will see his face no more. This shows us that that is a farewell meeting, 
that they will see him no more. The 27th verse again tells us that Paul has 
declared unto them all the counsel of God, yet, there is nothing about a new 
sabbath. In the 35th verse he tells them to remember the words of the 
Lord Jesus. This is good advice for us. Let us remember the words of 
Jesus, and not change them for the words of man. The 37th and 38th 
verses tell us that Paul prayed with them, and that they fell upon his neck 
and kissed him, sorrowing mostly because he told them that they would 
see him no more. 

Now let me ask, Does this 20th chapter of Acts describe a regular Sun- 
day Christian assembly, or does it describe a farewell sermon ? 

Brother W. once asked me what I thought of this meeting, and this sac- 
rament, on the first day of the week, about its being a sabbath assembly. I 
told him that I thought it was a farewell sermon, entirely separate from the 
Sabbath, and that Paul traveled all day the first day of the week. He re- 
plied, No ; the first day of the week closed at midnight, and Paul traveled 
on the second day of the week. I replied, very good. Paul preached un- 
til midnight ; after midnight he went down and tarried for a time with the 
young man that fell from the window ; this took him well onto the second 
day of the week. Then he returned to the chamber where he broke bread, 
and preached until the break of day, and then resumed his journey. Now, 
if the day began at midnight, Paul broke bread, preached, and traveled 
after midnight ; and if the day began at sundown, it was the same thing ; 
Paul broke bread, preached, and traveled, all on the one day ; it could not 
have been a Sabbath custom. 

It is the only meeting spoken of in the New Testament where any Chris- 
tians met on the first day of the week. There are two places mentioned 
where they were already assembled for fear of the Jews ; when Christ ap- 
peared unto them ; but it was not for Sabbath worship. 


118 


HOW ARE WE LED? 


Jesus before he departed from his disciples ate supper with them, and 
broke bread, and said to his disciples, “Do this in remembrance of me.” 
He did not say, Do this on the Sabbath day ; do it on the first day of the 
week ; do it on the second day of the week ; or do it on any day of the 
week. But he said as oft as ye do this, do it in remembrance of me. 
When Paul came to leave his brethren, he did the same as Jesus ; he took 
bread and blessed it, and broke it, and gave it to his brethren ; and then he 
told them that he should leave them. 

Again, I ask my readers, Was this a Sabbath assembly, or was it a fare- 
well assembly ? And again I ask, Is Elder Gitchell’s proof Scripture proof ? 

(Page 52.) There is no evidence to be found from the Bible, from reason, or from any 
other source, that any person or class of persons, are now or ever have been required to 
observe the seventh day of the week, or “ Sabbath of the Lord our God,” except the nation 
of Israel, their servants and the proselytes of the Jewish faith. 

Gitchell excepts only the nation of Israel. I will except only the 
children of God, regardless of name or nation, and regardless of Jew or 
Gentile. There are properly only two names for the children of God, Israel 
and Christian. They both terminate in the one God. 

The remaining eight pages of Elder Gitchell’s book are merely statements 
that he has repeated two or more times, so I will not go over them, but I 
will only go back to pick up some things that may have been overlooked. 

I do not keep the Sabbath day as a memorial of God’s creation, but as a 
memorial of God’s command ; in obedience to God’s word ; as a sign that I 
am one of his children. And my sign shows to the world that I am not 
ashamed to own God as a Father, or to obey him as a son. 

(Page 6.) God's cursing man . . . and sending a stream of death through every 
avenue of nature , and all terrestrial objects withering ■ beneath the vengeance of violated 
justice, calls more for a sabbath to commemorate woe and destruction occasioned by sin 
than a Sabbath as a memorial of God's lovely and grand creation. 

Gitchell, in making this statement, includes every earthly object, even 
the birds, beasts, and trees, and the vegetables. 

Who can believe that God has cursed the birds, beasts, or trees, for the 
sins of man ? 

Shall we believe that God has cursed even the human flesh for the sins 
of man? God is perfection, and all the time he is building up, whilst Satan 
is destruction, and is all the time tearing down. God cannot curse, for to 
curse is to corrupt, and corruption is outside of the path of perfection ; out- 
side of God’s path, and outside of God’s reach. Satan curses, and God 
blesses. 


(Page C.) God . . . gave the children 
of Israel a Sabbath day, but this Sabbath 
was given to no other nation. 


Gal. 3 : 29. And if ye be Christ’s then 
are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs accord* 
ing to the promise. 

Ex. 31 : 13. That ye may know that 
1 am the Lord that doth sanctify you. 

1 Cor. 3 : 23. Ye are Christ’s ; and 
Christ is God’s. 


MORE ABOUT THE COVENANT. 


119 


Ex. 12 : 37, 38. And the children of 
Israel journeyed, and a mixed multitude 
went up also with them; 

Verse 48. He shall be as one born in 

the land : 

Verse 19. Whether he be a stranger, 
or born in the land. 

Every true Christian is a child of God, and every true Israelite is a child 
of God. If we are all God’s children, we are brethren. We do just as wrong 
in calling a true Israelite a Jew, as we do in calling a true Christian a Cath- 
olic. There are true Christians among the Catholics, and there are true 
Israelites among the Jews, and they are brethren, and must walk together. 

Catholicism pertains to all Christians, yet all Christians are not Catholics, 
and Judaism pertains to all Israel, though all Israelites are not Jews. I try 
to be a true Israelite, and in order to be a true Israelite I must be a true 
Christian, yet I am neither a Jew nor a Catholic. We are all one, though 
under a new name. We are all Abraham’s seed, and heirs to the sign that 
takes us through the door. 


(Page 17.) It is not only proven by this . 

scripture than the ten commandments com- Verse 49. One law shall be to him 
posed the covenant , but that the law was not that is home born, and unto the stranger. 

given to other nations. 

Moses’ religion was as free to the world as the religion of Jesus, only 
Moses did not understand how to teach it to the world. Jesus said, scatter 
it to the world. Moses said, come to it, and Jesus magnified what Moses 


gave. 

Gitchell said in this last statement 
that he had proven his points by Scrip- 
ture. Not only has he proven one thing, 
but he has proven two. He claims that 
he has proven that the ten command- 
ments are the words that Jesus abolished, 
destroyed, and cast aside, but the teach- 
ings of Jesus, and his apostles, do not 
sustain his proof. Then he claims to 
have proven that Moses’ religion was 
confined to the Jews alone, but the Bible 
shows us differently. See the texts in 
opposite column, which show God’s re- 
gard for the stranger. 

When Gitchell wants to prove that a 
thing is so, he just opens the Bible where 


Lev. 16 : 29. And this shall be a 
statute for ever unto you: . . . whether 
it be one of your own country or a 
stranger. 

Chap. 17 : 15. Whether it be one of 
your own country, or a stranger, 

Chap. 19 : 34. But the stranger that 
dwelleth with you shall be unto you as 
one born among you, and thou shalt love 
him as thyself ; 

Chap. 24:22. Ye shall have one 
manner of law, as well for the stranger, 
as for one of your own country : for I 
am the Lord your God. 

Num. 9 : 14. And if a stranger shall 
sojourn among you, . . . according to 
the manner thereof, so shall he do: ye 
shall have one ordinance, both for the 
stranger, and for him that was born in 
the land. 

Num. 15 : 14. And if a stranger, . . . 
as ye do, so he shall do. 




120 


HOW ARE WE LED 


it is silent on the point, where the Scrip- 
ture does not say no to his ideas; and thus 
he proves that it says yes ! When he 
wants to prove that a thing is not so, he 
opens to the same place in the Bible, 
where it is silent on his point, where the 
Scripture does not say yes, and thus he 
has proven that it says no. By this 
process he can prove by Scripture any- 
thing that he may want. 


Verse 15. One ordinance shall be 
both for you of the congregation, and 
also for the stranger. 

Deut. 10 : 17. The Lord your God is 
God of gods, and Lord of lords, 

Verse 18. And lovet’n the stranger, 
Verse 19. Love ye therefore the 
stranger. 

Chap. 34 : 5. So Moses the servant of 
the Lord died. 


Now we have examined the teachings of Moses, from his departure out 
of Egypt to his death, and we find that his religion was free to the whole 
world. 

But our preachers go into their pulpits and invite sinners to come to 
them and join their church. Moses in effect did just the same thing. They 
only had one Moses to invite the stranger, whilst we have thousands of 
preachers. 

And because they only had one Moses, and because he did not under- 
stand how to teach just as our preachers teach us to-day, who are schooled 
from their cradle up for that purpose, shall we denounce the word of God 
that he was trying to teach ? and say that God through ignorance gave a 


word that is faulty, and must be 
forbid ! 

(Page 49.) However , you never find in 
the scripture a Christian assembly meeting 
on the seventh day. 

Elder Gitchell has given us this 
he words it a little different. He has 
on the seventh day. 

He says that we never find in Scrip- 
ture where a Christian assembly was held 
on the seventh day ; this is correct. 
The Scripture writers had no more call 
to speak of the seventh day when refer- 
ring to the Sabbath, than we have to 
speak of the 25th day of December in re- 
ferring to Christmas. That day had its 
name, and was always called by that 
name when referring to the seventh day 
of the week. In reply to this last state- 
ment in the teachings of the apostles we 
found many examples where they went 


abolished, and laid aside ? Heaven 


John 10 : 30. I and my Father are one. 

Gal. 3:29. And if ye be Christ’s then 
are ye Abraham’s seed, 

Verse 26. For ye are all the children 
of God. 

statement half a dozen times, but now 
said on the Sabbath day, he now says 

Chap. 4 : 6. And because ye are 
sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of 
his Son into your hearts, 

Matt. 7 : 21. Not every one that 
saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter 
into the kingdom of heaven ; but he 
that doeth the will of my Father which 
is in heaven. 

Mark 1 : 21. And straightway on the 
Sabbath day he entered into the syna- 
gogue, and taught. 

Chap. C : 2. And when the Sabbath 
day was come, he began to teach in the 
synagogue ; 

Luke 4:16. As his custom was, he 
went into the synagogue on the Sabbath 
day, and stood up for to read. 


MORE ABOUT THE COVENANT. 


121 


into the synagogues and taught the 
Scriptures on the Sabbath days'' 

Now we turn to the teachings of 
Jesus, and we find his example to be 
the same. 


Verse 31. And came down . . . and 
taught them on the Sabbath days. 

Chap. 13 : 10. And he was teaching 
in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. 


Jesus went into the synagogues and read the law and the prophets from 
the Old Testament on the Sabbath days. Luke 4:16 says it was his custom. 

G-itchell told us, first, that the Sunday-sabbath was established by the 
example of Jesus, and that Jesus chose that day ; second, that it was 
established by the example of the apostles ; third, and last, he told us that 
the manner in which the apostles introduced their Scripture, gave proof 
that the apostles established the Sunday-sabbath. But I leave it to the 
readers to examine for themselves, and weigh his proof. 

(Page 21.) This covenant is to he unlike the one given on Sinai , and to come when 
. . . Christ and his Gospel are sealed up, and Jesus . . . laid down his life . . . and . . . 
[page 22] , obtained the Holy Ghost to change the hearts of man. 

(Page 45.) Why do we want to serve the law ... it was a covenant thrown in to 
govern this nation until Christ should come. 

(Page 22.) Putting the law in the inward parts, . . . is suiting the nature to con- 
stantly act from principles that will promote the highest good. Hence the principle of love is 
established in his nature, and he loves God with all his heart, and his neighbor as himself. 

Elder G. is here describing his new covenant. He has described the old 
covenant given on Sinai as being faulty, severe, and very hard to live up to. 

He also says it was God’s design that people should live up to this 
covenant, without any divine reward whatever ; and if they failed to do so, 
they should stone each other as long as life lasted. In fact that it was such 
a worthless thing that God threw it in with his talk when he was speaking 
with Moses on Mount Sinai. 

But as for his new covenant, it is formed of love, and suits the nature of 
man so that he can love God with all his heart, and his neighbor as himself. 

What is a covenant, and how did God throw it in ? What is a covenant, 
and how did Jesus make the new one ?/ 

A covenant is a bargain that every human being has got to make with 
God, if he ever has one. 

How can we make that covenant ? We can make our part of that cove- 
nant just by thinking it over, or we can whisper it to God, or we can pray it 
aloud. It is all the same to him. God’s part of that covenant was made 
on Sinai, and written on stone, in lasting material, which shall last forever. 
And when we make our part, our covenant is complete. But it is of no 
avail unless we constantly try to live up to what we have covenanted. 

But what about this love contained in the new covenant ? Jesus taught 
us to love one another, to love God, and to let love be blended through all 
our actions. 

But what did Moses say about that Lev. 19 : 34. But the stranger that 
love ? Moses gave us precisely the same dwelleth with you shall be unto you as 
teachings that Jesus did. Moses taught one born among you, and thou shalt 
us to love the stranger; he taught us to love him as thyself. 


122 


HOW ARE WE LED ? 


love God, and he taught us to serve the 
Lord our God with all our heart, and 
with all our soul ; and he taught the 
very same love which Jesus magnified. 

But I say, Love godliness. No man 
can love God with all his heart ; no man 
can love his neighbor as himself; no 
man can love the stranger whom he 
never saw before except he loves godli- 
ness in all things. 


Deut. 10 : 17. The Lord your God is 
God of gods, and Lord of lords, 

Verse 18. And loveth the stranger, 
Verse 19. Love ye therefore the 
stranger : 

Verse 12. To fear the Lord thy God, 
to walk in all his ways and to love him, 
Chap. 11 : 1. Therefore thou shalt 
love the Lord thy God, 

Chap. 10 : 12. And to serve the Lord 
thy God with all thy heart and with all 
thy soul, 


To ill-treat a beast, a poor brute, is ungodliness. To kill a snake is no 
sin ; but to half kill a snake, and then let it go to suffer, is wrong. 

And when a mother trains her children from their infancy up to kindness 
and love in all things, that mother can raise a good family of children with- 
out the aid of a departed father. But when the mother permits the child to 
run into all manner of unkindness, she cannot expect her sons and daughters 
to love godliness ; neither can she expect them to love God or their neigh- 
bors. They may make long prayers, and say that they love God, but we 
must not conclude that any man loves God because he says he does. When 
you see a man that loves godliness, you may judge him as loving God with- 
out his saying so. And if he loves God, he loves his neighbor and the 
stranger. 


As for Moses having love in his cove- 
nant, it was pure, like the love of Jesus. 
And I leave it to the words of Jesus. 
Jesus’ teachings were as the gifts of 
the rich, whilst Moses gave us all that 
he had, and all is all. Moses was 
the adopted son of God, and at that 
time the greatest teacher on earth. 

Christ was the Son of God from his 
creation, well trained from his infancy, 
and of high cognition at twelve years old. 


Luke 21 : 1. And he looked up, and 
saw the rich men casting in their gifts. 

Verse 2. And he saw also a certain 
poor widow casting in thither two 
mites. 

Verse 3. And he said, Of a truth 
. . . this poor widow hath cast in more 
than they all. 

Verse 4. For all these have of their 
abundance . . . but she of her penury 
hath cast in all the living that she had. 


But how about this covenant of love being stamped upon our hearts ? 

Jesus did not make a covenant with God whilst he was here on earth, 
that he would come and stamp this law of love in my nature, and so prepare 
me for heaven. Jesus, whilst on this earth did not make a covenant with 
God that he would leave Robert Ingersoll’s nature unstamped, and so permit 
him to be damned forever. No ; Jesus made no such a covenant. The 
mother has a thousandfold more power to stamp this nature than Christ 
has ; the mother has a thousandfold more power to cultivate this nature, 
after it is stamped, than Christ has. It is the mother that sends her son 
to states prison, and she does it before he is off from her knees. 

The mother that so loves the flesh and blood of her dear little child that 
she cannot tingle its tender flesh, or that she cannot deny it of its needless 


MOKE ABOUT TIIE COVENANT. 


123 


desires, that mother has no love for God. She has no love for godliness ; 
she has no love for the rights of others ; and she has no love for the eternal 
happiness of her own dear child. 

The mother that has sufficiently stamped the nature of her child needs 
not to tingle its flesh. But the mother that has failed to thoroughly stamp 
that loving nature, should use all diligence in rearing that nature after it is 
formed, and before it is old enough to go into the father’s care. And the 
father also should use the same diligence in rearing that little one, and try- 
ing to stamp in its nature what Elder Gitchell says Jesus stamped there 
1900 years ago, when he made his covenant with God. 

Then you ask, If the Old Testament is not a covenant, what is it ? — It is 
the teachings of Moses and his successors. And I cannot find a covenant 
with God between its lids. I find where men covenanted together, and I 
find that man did covenant with God. 

When God talks with man, he talks about spiritual things, and as it is 
almost impossible for man to understand spiritual things without having 
earth ly objects to look at, he almost invariably applies God’s words to 
earthly objects. When God told Pharaoh that there would be seven years 
of plenty and seven years of famine, Pharaoh could not understand the 
Lord. 


He called all of his wise men to- 
gether, but none of them were pure 
enough in godliness, to understand God’s 
talk. Then Pharaoh sent for Joseph, a 
child of God, one who had this stamped 
nature, before Jesus was born. And 
Joseph was so pure in godliness that he 
understood God’s word. 


Gen. 41 : 25. And Joseph said . . . 
God hath showed Pharaoh what he is 
about to do. 

Verses 26, 29. The seven good ears 
are . . . seven years of great plenty. 

Verse 27. And the seven empty ears 
. . . shall be seven years of famine. 


Joseph told Pharaoh that God had talked with Pharaoh, and that 
Pharaoh could not understand God’s talk. In the 40tli chapter of Genesis 
God told the butler that in three days he should be restored to his butler- 
ship, but the butler understood it not. In the same chapter God told the 
baker that in three days his head should be taken from him, but the baker, 
like the butler, was not pure enough in godliness to understand God’s 
talk. 

Let us now turn over to the Acts of 
the Apostles, to those men whom Jesus 
taught, to those men whom Christ en- 
dowed with the Holy Ghost, to those 
men whom Elder Gitchell says Christ 
filled with the new covenant ; and there 
we find that God told Peter that he 
should call no man common or unclean. 

And for a time Peter could not under- 
stand God’s word ; for a time Peter 
doubted what God’s word should mean ; 
but when he came into Cornelius’s house, 
he understood it. 


Acts 10 : 17. Now whilst Peter 
doubted in himself what this vision 
. . . should mean, etc. 


124 


HOW ARE WE LED? 


Now let me say that there is no man that is perfect ; there is no human 
being but what is more or less possessed of human frailty. How can we 
expect a human being to understand every word that God says to him, and 
get it perfect. 


But as I was saying, I find in the Old 
Testament what God asked Abraham to 
do, but I cannot find Abraham’s reply. 
Therefore we have not got Abraham’s 
covenant. 

We all have reasons to believe that 
but we fail to find it in the Bible. 


I also find that Jacob made a promise, 
or a covenant unto God. But the cove- 
nant is not written down ; I do not find 
any covenant there. 


Gen. 17 : 1. Walk before me, and be 
thou perfect. 

Abraham made a covenant with God, 

Gen. 31 : 13. I am the God of Bethel, 
where thou anointedst the pillar, and 
where thou vowedst a vow unto me : 


Then I find where God appeared to Moses in the burning bush ; and I 
believe that Moses made a covenant with God at that time, if he had not 
before ; yet there is no covenant written down. Then I follow Moses, 
through all of his talk with God, until he comes into the wilderness of Sinai, 
and I find no covenant whatever. There Moses goes up on Mount Sinai, and 
God tells him what he wants the people to do. Moses takes the word down 
to the people, and the people answer him. That makes a covenant. Moses 
tells the people that God wants them to obey his commands, and the people 
tell Moses that they will obey God’s commands. Now, dear readers, we have 
found a covenant ; we have found a bargain ; and we have found both sides 
of the bargain ; and that makes a covenant. But there is one thing about 
this covenant yet. This covenant is between man and man ; it is net 
between man and God. 

When we find the covenant between God and man, w r e only find God’s part 
of it written down, and that he wrote on stone, and man’s part of that cove- 
nant is yet unwritten ; but Moses’ teachings are there. And Moses tau ght 
us that God’s part of that covenant was on lasting material, and would last 
forever ; and that the stranger from all parts of the world was invited to 
come and close up that covenant. 

Then I turn to the New Testament to look for Jesus’ covenant, but I fail 
to find it. I have as good reason to believe that Jesus made a covenant with 
God, as I have to think that Moses, or any of the prophets, did. And I believe 
that his part of the covenant was similar to this : That he would be God’s 
servant in practice and in teachings to the utmost of his power. 

I search the New Testament from cover to cover, and I find not one 
word of a covenant. But I find that if he did make such a covenant, he 
fulfilled it to perfection. 



MOKE ABOUT THE COVENANT. 


125 


Then I go to the teachings of the 
apostles to find a covenant that the 
apostles have made, and I search them 
thoroughly, but I only find Paul’s con- 
viction and conversion. I find that Paul, 
who was also called Saul, fell to the 
earth, and heard his name called twice. 
I find that Paul said, Who art thou 
Lord, and what wilt thou have me do : 
And the voice said, Go to the city and 
it shall be told thee there what thou 
shalt do. 


Acts 9 :4. And he fell to the earth, 
and heard a voice saying unto him, 
Saul, Saul, 

Verse 5. And he said, who art thou, 
Lord ? And the Lord said, I am Jesus. 

Verse G. And he . . . said, Lord, 
what wilt thou have me do ? And the 
Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into 
the city, and it shall be told thee what 
thou must do. 


I follow Paul to the city, and I search closely until he is converted, bap- 
tized, and begins to preach, and I find no covenant there. I find no cove- 
nant between Paul and God. I find no covenant between Paul and Christ ; I 
find no covenant between Paul and Jesus. And in fact I find no covenant 
in the whole New Testament, neither between Paul, nor any other apostle, 
and their God. Yet I just as much believe that each of them made a cove- 
nant with God as I believe that I have made a covenant with God. But the 
New Testament is not a covenant. 

Then you ask me, What is the New Testament ? It is the teachings of 
Jesus and his apostles. Then you ask me what will I do with Paul’s letter 
to the Hebrews ? 


I will tell you what I will do with 
that. 1 will say of Paul just as Gitchell 
said of Moses. 


Heb. 8 : 13. In that he saith, A new 
covenant, he hath made the first old. 


He said, Moses was a man of human frailty. I say that all human 
beings are possessed of that frailty. Paul gave us God’s word, as he under- 
stood it, and the best that was in his power. When God told Pharaoh that 
there would be seven years of copiousness and seven years of famine, 
Pharaoh had this in a brief sentence, but he could not understand it until 
it was explained to him. When God toj[d the butler that in three days he 
would be restored to his butlership, it was only a short sentence, but the 
butler could not understand it until it was explained. The baker, to whom 
God said that in three days he should be beheaded, failed to under- 
stand it. 

Peter, one of the apostles, who was filled with the Holy Ghost, received 
God’s word from heaven with the sheet, and was told that lie should call no 
man common or unclean. It was but a short sentence, and Peter was already 
filled with the Holy Ghost ; yet Peter could not understand that vision until 
he saw an earthly object that made it clear to his mind. 

If those men could not understand a short sentence of God’s word, shall 
we expect Paul to understand fourteen long books of God’s word in the New 
Testament, and get every word of it perfectly ? 

God told me to go one hundred and fifty miles, and that there I would 
find a broken lamp ; but it was sufficient to give me light. I could not un- 


126 


HOW ARE WE LED? 


derstand God’s word until I went and received the light. It was there tji.it 
I received the light that I am trying to use to-day. I have not one friend 
in my own locality that says 1 am doing right, that will give me one en- 
couraging word ; but I have made a covenant with God that I will act upon 
the light that he may give me. 

As for Paul’s remarks in regard to the Heb. 12 : 24. And to Jesus the media- 
new covenant, was he referring to the 

New Testament which he was just writ- tor oi the new covenant, 
ing, or was he referring to something 
that is still hidden from our understand- 
ing ? 


I believe that Jesus did make a covenant with God, that he would serve 
God even at the peril of his life ; and for fulfilling that covenant his life was 
taken from him. I don’t believe that Paul referred to the New Testament 
as the new covenant, and if he did, that does not make it so until we can 
find a bargain between God and man written down in it. 

If Moses taught the people that God’s part of the covenant referred to 
the Jews, and the Jews alone, he was not as good a teacher as Jesus was. 
If Jesus came and taught the people that God’s part of the covenant was 
free to the world, that it was free to every human being who was disposed 
to come and renew it, would not that give Paul reason to call it a new cove- 
nant ? It was new to Jesus at the moment that he renewed it for himself ; 
it was new to the apostles at the moment that they renewed it for them- 
selves ; it was new to the converts at the very moment that Paul was doing 
that writing ; and it was new to me two years ago, and will be new to some 
one as long as time lasts, although God’s part of it was made on Sinai, 
written on stone, and will last forever. All that is required to make this 
new covenant is to say, Yes, Lord, I will obey your commands ; all that is 
required to live up to this new covenant is to try constantly to obey those 
commands. 

As for the apostolic writings, the dark places in them are to the people 
to-day as Pharaoh’s dream was to him, and each minister of the gospel 
should try to be as Joseph was, so pure in godliness that they can interpret 
those dark passages so as to get God’s true meaning out of them. 

No minister should change the words or the letters of the Scriptures so 
as to misinterpret their meaning, or to deceive the readers so as to make 
them believe just as the minister does. But as we are all subject to human 
frailty, we should interpret it to the best of our judgment, and then leave it 
for others to interpret after us. 

When our ministers tell us that every word of the New Testament is per- 
fect, and that it was inspired by God, and every word was written just as 
God wanted it, they drive the reasonable thinkers into infidelity. But when 
they tell us that it is not the covenant of Jesus, but the teachings of honest 
Christian men, all people will respect it as such. 


THE} MEANING OF ‘ ‘ FULFIL.” 


127 


But as Elder Gitcliell has told us that it is the new covenant of Jesus 
Christ, and that God’s word given on Mount Sinai is the old covenant which 
Jesus fulfilled, finished up, abolished, made dead, and laid aside, I must ask 
all readers, Why did Jesus come upon earth and teach us so thoroughly to 
fulfil God’s commands, and then fulfil them himself and put them out of 
our reach so that we cannot fulfil them as he has taught us to? 


Matt. 3 : 15. And Jesus answering 
said unto him, Suffer it to be so now : 
for thus it becometh us to fulfil all 
righteousness. 

Chap. 5 : 17. Think not that I am 
come to destroy the law, or the proph- 
ets : I am not come to destroy, but to 
fulfil. 

Verse 18. For verily I say unto you, 
Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or 
one tittle shall in no wise pass from the 
law, till all be fulfilled. 

Verse 19. Whosoever therefore shall 
break one of these least commandments, 
and shall teach men so, he shall be 
called the least in the kingdom of 
heaven. 

Gal. 5 : 16. Walk in the Spirit, and 
ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. 

Chap. 6 : 2. Bear ye one another’s 
burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ. 
Phil. 2 : 2. Fulfil ye my joy. 

Col. 1 : 25. Wherefor I am made a 
minister, ... to fulfil the word of God. 

Chap. 4 : 17. Take heed to the min- 
istry which thou hast received in the 
Lord, that thou fulfil it. 

If fulfilling a thing completes it, abolishes it, kills it, and lays it aside, 
why did Paul in his letter to the Philippians tell them to fulfil his joy? Why 
did he say to the Galatians, Walk in the spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the 
lusts of the flesh? Why did not Paul let them fulfil the lusts of the flesh, 
and so abolish it, and get it out of our reach so that we would have 
no more lust of the flesh ? Why did Paul say to the Colossians, I am 
made a minister, to fulfil the word of God, thirty-one years after Jesus 
had abolished it, and laid it aside ? Why did he say to them, Take heed 
to the ministry, that thou fulfil it ? 

If Elder Gitchell’s statement is true, that Jesus did abolish, complete, 
finish up, and lay aside the law, which was the commandments, that were 
written on stone by the finger of God on Mount Sinai, by fulfilling them, 
what are those words of Jesus and also of Paul written in the New Testa- 
ment for ? 

Can any rational person read the Scripture and then go into a pulpit and 
say to a congregation that any part of God’s word is abolished, and laid 


Do not Jesus’ teachings show us 
that he fulfilled God’s commands, and 
left them for us to fulfil also? 

If Jesus had any thought of chang- 
ing the Sabbath, why did he say that 
whosoever shall break one of those com- 
mandments and (change the words of 
the Bible to) teach men so, shall be 
called the least in the kingdom of 
heaven? Why did Jesus make this re- 
mark, if he was fulfilling the command- 
ments so that they should all be done 
away? 


Can we believe that Jesus fulfilled 
the law, and put it out of our reach, and 
then cautioned us so much that we 
should fulfil it? 


128 


SOW ARE WE LED? 


aside, because some person has lived up to it just as God wanted him to ? 
Let us look a little farther into Paul’s words. 


We see by this that Jesus spoke of the 
seventh day. Those words of Jesus are 
not written down, but Paul quotes a few 
of them. Paul says that Jesus “spoke 
in a certain place of the seventh day on 
this wise.” 

“ And God did rest the seventh day 
from all his works. ’ ’ 

Verse 5. “ And in this place again,” 

“If they shall enter into my rest." 


Heb. 4 : 4. For he spake in a certain 
place of the seventh day on this wise, 
And God did rest the seventh day from 
all his works. 

Verse 5. And in this place again, if 
they shall enter into my rest. 

Verse 9. There remaineth therefore 
a rest to the people of God. 

Verse 11. Let us labor therefore to 
enter into that rest. 


Paul quotes those words as words that Jesus spoke in a certain place. 

(In the last letter that the printer wrote to me he made some statements 
which I have noticed, and added to the supplement of my first chapter. ) 

One of his remarks is this : “I fear that your proof will not stand the 
crucial test.” And his reasons why it will not stand is this : In some large 
Bibles we have men’s remarks written in the margin, and he tells me that 
the margin here in Greek has Joshua, being called Jesus, in the body of this 
chapter. Let me say to this that in the beginning, and all through the Dark 
Ages, there were but very few who believed it right to obey God’s command 
in keeping the Sabbath ; those that thought it right to keep Constantine’s 
day, did all that they could to prove that to be the right day. And as this 
was the plainest passage in the New Testament against them, they must get 
it out of the way in some shape. They feared to change the words of the 
Bible which was scattered outside of one church or one nation. But they 
could give us an explanation that would blind us when we saw their obstruc- 
tion. They could put their explanation in the margin without adding to, 
or substracting from the apostle s teachings. If they had been as smart as 
our men are at the present day, they could have revised the Bible, and 
spelled this name Joshua, then they would have had it. 

The above is only my supposition on this marginal reading. Let me ask 
my readers, is my judgment good ? The apostles were not perfect, but were 
they frail enough to write of such a man as Jesus Christ, and then write of 
another man and call him by the same name without making any distinc- 
tion ? If our ministers want to give us such stuff as this, let them bring it 
down from the days of those apostles that we may see with our own eyes. 

But I left my subject where Paul farther said, there remaineth therefore 
a rest to the children of God. 

Christ is God, and if we enter into the rest of -Christ, we enter into the 
rest of God. The words of Jesus teach us that there is a spiritual rest. As 
it is hard for the human mind to understand spiritual things without having 
earthly objects to look at, God gave to his children (whether Jew or stranger) 
an earthly rest as a sign that they were preparing themselves for the spiritual 
rest. And that sign was the keeping of the seventh day. As Jesus him- 
self never wrote, the first four books are the words of Jesus quoted by the 


129 


god’s everlasting sign. 

four apostles ; and those words of Jesus, quoted by Paul, are just as pure 
as the words of Jesus quoted in the first four books. And Paul says that 
Jesus recommended that rest on the seventh day. And he says, let us labor 
to enter into that rest. 

Now a few more words that I shall 
quote from the Scriptures, are found in 
this same chapter of Paul’s letter, and it 
speaks plainer than any other words 
found in the New Testament. 

As Paul was saying that Jesus was recommending this seventh-day rest 
that God had given us, not that Jesus was giving us rest of himself, but 
was recommending the seventh-day rest that God gave us, Paul says, “If 
Jesus had given them rest, then would he not afterward have spoken of 
another day.” Does not this say plainly that a new Sabbath was never 
thought of ? Some one said that Jesus gave us rest. Paul said, If Jesus 
had given them rest then would he not afterward have spoken of another 
day. What could speak plainer than this ? This was thirty-one years after 
Jesus was crucified. 

Now let me call your attention to one more point. We have 
examined the Sabbath day closely, and have found it to be a com- 
mand of God ; and we find that Jesus recommended the keeping of that 
holy rest on the Sabbath day. Jesus did not even give it a new name but 
re-commended it as God had fixed it. Can it be possible that Paul was 
speaking of Joshua giving them another rest, (as you might say) right in 
Moses’ time, right in the beginning of Moses’ religion ? 

We have also examined sprinkling, washing, and bathing, and we have 
not found it to be a command of God, but on the contrary a tradition of 
man. But we find by the example of Jesus, and by his teachings, that it 
was a righteous act, and that Jesus asked John to baptize him, that he 
might fulfil all righteousness. Now let me ask Elder Gitchell, if Jesus 
abolished the commandments by fulfilling them, why did not he abolish all 
righteousness that he fulfilled ? Why did not he abolish baptizing, this 
holy washing uuder this new name, that he fulfilled ? 

Now we have found one command of God, and one tradition of man, 
hanging side by side, and the examples and teachings of Jesus recommend 
both. Now let me ask all churches, Why should we abolish the command 
of God, and quarrel so over the tradition of man ? — whether it be sprink- 
ling or immersion ? 

This command of God was, Let my children keep the Sabbath day holy, 
for a sign between me and my children, and this sign shall last forever. 

This tradition of man was the holy bathing, or washing, for the remis- 
sion of sins, established during the life of Moses ; not commanded that it 
should last forever, but practiced by Jesus and his apostles. And when re- 
ligion was about to take its new name (Christianity) this holy bathing also 
took its new name (baptism). 

I ask, Why shall we abolish the command of God ? And why shall we 
quarrel, over the tradition of man ? 

9 


Heb. 4 : 8. For if Jesus had given 
them rest, then would he not afterward 
have spoken of another day. 


130 


HOW ARE WE LED? 


Moses teaches us to love the Lord our 
God. Jesus taught us to love the Lord 
our God with all our might, mind, and 
strength. 


Ex. 20 : 5. I the Lord thy God, [Ver. 
6], shewing mercy unto thousands of 
them that love me, and keep my com- 
mandments. 


Thus Jesus magnified the teachings of Moses. I say that the only way 
to love God is to love to see and practice godliness in all things, and in all 
places. 


Moses also taught us to love the 
stranger as ourselves. Jesus taught us 
to love our neighbor as ourselves ; but I 
ask, Who is our neighbor ? 


Deut. 10 : 17. For the Lord thy God 
is God of gods, 

Yer. 18. And loveth the stranger, 

Ver. 19. Love ye therefore the 
stranger. 

Lev. 19 : 34. And thou shalt love 
him as thyself. 


In Luke 10 : 30-36, Jesus taught us that the Samaritan (that picked up 
the stranger in the streets “bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine,”) 
proved himself to be a neighbor to the stranger. Luke 10 : 25-28, tells us 
that a certain lawyer tempting Jesus, said, “What shall I do to inherit 
eternal life ? ” Jesus said unto him, “ What is written in the law ? ” The 
lawyer answered, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, 
and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind ; and 
thy neighbor as thyself.” This shows us that Elder Gitchell’s new cove- 
nant of love was practiced and written down before Jesus made his cove- 
nant. 

If Colonel Robert Ingersoll could see and understand Elder Gitchell’s 
covenant of love, if he cared to practice it, I believe that (rather than to 
live in hell-fire and torment here in this present world) he could forsake 
wife and home and go where he could practice and enjoy godliness in all 
things here on this earth. To thoroughly practice and enjoy this love, it 
should be reciprocated by the companion, yet the mother has a chance to 
cultivate it in the minds of her offspring regardless of her companion. 

It is outside of this love for God, for mothers to take a child to a neigh- 
bor’s and permit that child to steal a toy or plaything from the neighbor’s 
child, and take it home. You say, Why should we meddle with things that 
are so small that they are not worthy of notice ? I say it is as necessary to 
root the thorn and the tare out of the infant’s mind when it is small, as it is 
to root the weeds out of the corn when the corn is small. 

When I was rearing my children, I taught them when small that they 
might do any wrong that they wished to if they w r ould come and tell me the 
truth about it. Then I would forgive them, and that would mend the 
wrong regardless of what it w r as ; but if they did a wrong, let it be ever so 
small, if they deceived me about it, when I found it out, I would punish 
them for doing the wrong, and then correct them for lying about it. I 
would whip them twice. By so doing I could punish my children without 
getting angry. In this I was practicing godliness and teaching my boys to 


LET ONE HAND WASH THE OTHER. 


131 


practice godliness. By so doing I was loving God, but I did not know at 
that time what was love to God. At the very time that I was following this 
practice, I was trying to believe that I was an infidel ; but I was loving God, 
and trying to instruct my boys to love God. 

Now I leave it to the judgment of my readers to answer for themselves 
if Elder Gitchell’s points are proven ; and if so, is it positive scripture 
proof ? 


CHAPTER X. 

LET ONE HAND WASH THE OTHER. 

There is another thing which I would like to put before the minds of my 
readers, which I think helps to drive the reasoning thinker into infidelity. 
I do not say that this causes any person to become an infidel ; but I believe it 
helps the infidelic cause along. So it is given to the reader, and let every one 
form his own opinion. 

When I thought to become a Christian, I went seven miles to a village 
and asked Brother H. (the minister to whom I afterward asked the ques- 
tions about the Jewish way of counting) if he would immerse me, without 
asking me to join his church, as I wanted to be a follower of Jesus, and X 
wanted to be free from the bondage of a church. 

The church was about to hire this minister for a year, and they asked me 
to help them to pay him $1000 for one year’s preaching, which I, with 
others from my neighborhood, did, with the understanding that he would 
come to our schoolhouse to preach once a month, or twelve times during the 
year. This he did the first year, but in order to preach his twelve sermons 
he held a protracted meeting, and so gathered quite a congregation. I 
never joined their church, but I united with the congregation in helping to 
pay the preacher, and to carry on their meetings, which were followed up 
with a weekly meeting devoted to prayer, reading, and speaking. As I said, 
Brother H. came to our schoolhouse to preach the first year, but the second 
year he followed the example- of Moses. He kept his religion among his 
own people in town, and invited us strangers to come to him. His religion 
was free to the stranger, if the stranger would come to him ; and Moses’ 
religion was just as free. 

Shall we condemn his religion because he would not come seven miles to 
preach to us ? and shall we condemn Moses’ religion because Moses did not go 
clear outside of his own nation to preach to the stranger ? No. Moses’ religion 
was just as pure, and just as free to the world, as this brother’s was. But 
Moses could not teach them how to practice true religion then, as we can be 
taught to-day. God’s commands were just the same with Moses, just the 
same with Jesus, just the same to-day, and will be forever ; but our teach- 
ings have changed. We can keep his commands under better teachings than 
Moses knew how to teach, yet Moses gave us more than all our preachers 
give us (see Luke 21 : 3, 4), for he gave all that he had. 


132 


HOW ARE WE LED? 


But us I was saying, Brother H. , in order to preach his twelve sermons 
in our sclioolhouse, came and made a protracted meeting of it, and did ex- 
ceedingly well ; but did he let one hand wash the other ? 

My whole estate was not worth $1000. Brother II. was receiving $1000 
per year. He came to my house and staid the whole entire time of this 
protracted meeting, but he never once thought of giving me one cent for his 
board. No, not even so much as to thank me, or even lift his finger to do 
one small chore. But when he came to take his $1000 per year, he never 
forgot to take the last cent that I had subscribed on his salary. No ; he 
took the last cent and felt that he had only got what I had agreed to give. 

I looked into the Bible, and I found in the first five verses of the ninth 
of Luke that Jesus taught us to give our preachers free lodging and free 
board. Then I searched the teachings of Jesus, and I found that his 
religion was free to all. I cannot find one place where any person ever 
paid him one penny for preaching the gospel ; but I find where Paul went 
into the house of Aquila to board, when he was traveling through Asia, 
visiting the churches, and delivering the decrees. I find that Paul went 
into the house of Aquila to board because he was of the same craft, and he 
could work for his board. 

I laid my Bible down, and I began to study. I remembered that the 
teachings of Jesus inculcated friendship, and I asked myself, if one hand 
washes the other, is that a detriment to friendship ? I studied at length the 
teachings of Jesus and his apostles, and I made up my mind that our times 
were far ahead of the days of Jesus financially. I made up my mind that 
we could well afford to pay our preachers for their labor in the pulpit, — and 
pay them the price that we have agreed upon. If he thinks that he should 
receive more money for preaching one day in the week than the man that 
labors six days m the week should receive, and his congregation thinks that 
they can pay that price, let them pay every dollar that they agree to pay. 
But when he has agreed with his congregation for pay for his service, ought 
he not to pay the lady that labors, for her services, even though it be only 
for his board? 

Let one hand wash ,the other ; let us pay our preachers for preaching, 
and let them pay us for our services. There is many an honest laboring 
man that looks at our preachers and despises Christianity just on this ac- 
count. Jesus taught us to be friendly. But how can Christians be more 
friendly than to let one hand wash the other ? 

When a parasite calls upon an honest laborer to sponge, and on the 
other hand puts himself up for a minister, and asks the highest salary that 
is paid, it drives the laborer into infidelity. Let the parasite be as free with 
his preaching as he is with his sponging, then will he show true Christian- 
ity. Let the high priced preacher be a high priced payer, then he shows 
forth genuine Christianity. Paul said in his letter to Timothy, ‘ < The love 
of money is the root of all evil.” 1 Tim. 6 : 10. When a minister must 
have a high price for his services, and get things from others at a low price, 
or no price, it drives the reasonable thinker into infidelity. 


LET ONE HAND WASH THE OTHER 


133 


As I said, I united with our little congregation that held their weekly- 
meetings at our schoolhouse. Though I did not join their church, yet I 
considered that I was a child of God, and that they were children of God ; 
and I united with them, and called them brethren, and called their church 
our church, and I still call it our church, though I feel as free from the 
bondage of a church as I was in the day that God created me. But I could 
not believe all that the preachers taught us. I studied the Bible for what 
was in it, and when I saw a thing different from what the preacher told us, 
I would try- to explain it to the congregation, and for this reason the breth- 
ren rejected me. I have been compelled to take my seat before I had fin- 
ished the subject that I was endeavoring to explain. 

Elder H. visited our prayer- meeting right after my conversation with 
him about the Jewish way of counting. He made a short speech, and in 
his speech he said that he enjoyed my conversation very well, but he would 
warn all to be on their guard against strife. I consoled myself by remem- 
bering that God made me in his own image, free to think. 

As for our church, our members call our church the Christian church. 
Some call them Campbellites, others call them Christ’s Disciples ; but they 
call themselves the Christian Church, the only true Christian Church that 
there is. Why ? Because they are the true followers of Jesus, because 
they have no creed save the Bible ; because they serve God just as Jesus 
served him. 

Let me ask the world: Can we serve God just as Jesus served him, who 
was all the time trying to fulfil God’s commands, when we are all the time 
saying that God’s commands are abolished, dead, and done away ? Is our 
church rightly named ? Jesus obeyed God’s word, and we disobey it. 

Jesus did God’s work on the Sabbath day, and he taught his followers to 
lay aside manual labor and come and hear the teachings of the Scriptures on 
the Sabbath day. Our preachers to-day do the very same thing on the day 
that they call the Sabbath, but they tell us that Jesus broke the Sabbath. 

Jesus was a carpenter by trade, but the Bible is silent in regard to his 
daily labor on the first six days of the week. The Bible only tells us about 
his religious works, and it does not give us even all of that. See John 
21:25. Perhaps Elder Gltchell could prove by the Bible, even where it is 
silent, that Jesus never did any work except religious work, and that he did 
that on the Sabbath. The Bible is also silent in regard to the apostles’ do- 
ing manual labor on the first six days of the week. But when we read the 
18th chapter of Acts, we find that Paul did manual labor when he was in 
Asia with Aquila making tents. 

The New Testament does not tell us about all the doings of Jesus or of 
his apostles. John 21 : 25, tells us that there are many things not given in 
the Bible, it only tells us of such things as the apostles thought necessary 
to tell us. 

When a minister tells us that the New Testament is a covenant that takes 
us to heaven or sends us to hell, the reasonable thinker says that it is false. 
And instead of his looking for this falsity in the minister, he says that the 


134 


HOW ARE WE LED? 


falsity is in the Testament. He then becomes a disbeliever and an infidel. 
If the minister would tell us that the New Testament is only testimonials of 
how Jesus and his apostles taught us to prepare ourselves for heaven, then 
many infidels would come out of infidelity and examine those teachings, and 
weigh their weight. When he tells us that every word of the New Testa- 
ment is in perfection, he again drives us into infidelity ; but w’hen he tells us 
that it is God’s teachings, the best that human frailty could give it, he 
invites the infidel to come and investigate that human frailty. 

As for the revelations of John, those things were surely revealed to him. 
But how were they revealed to him ? Into human frailty. How w T ere the 
seven years of plenty and the seven years of famine revealed to Pharaoh ? 
How was the restoration of the butler’s butlership revealed to him ? The 
beheading of the baker, the vision of Peter on the housetop, how were they 
revealed to those men ? By a revelation into human frailty ; and then they 
were left for man to exercise that frailty. 

When it was revealed to me that I should go from home and find a lamp 
that would give me light, I knew not what I should receive. I went, and I 
found no lamp, such as we burn to give light to the mortal eye ; yet I gained 
knowledge, I gained understanding, I gained spiritual light, that I never 
would have gained had I not gone. I was told that I would find a lamp, 
that it was broken, yet it would give me light. I found the lamp and 
received the light, yet the lamp was broken : therefore I do not consider 
that my light is perfect ; but it is as good as my frailty would admit. 

In the year 1890, at Neillsville, Clark County, Wisconsin, it was revealed 

to Brother 0 that he should be burned at the stake. He felt that God 

had given him warning of approaching danger. It troubled him for fear 
that some accident was awaiting him. He could not see what this warning 
was for or where his danger lay. But it troubled him so that he would not 
stay in Wisconsin. He then went to Southern Michigan, and told his friends 
that he had had a vision that troubled him. From there he went to Northern 
Michigan, but he found no friend that could tell him what his vision should 
mean. In less than three years his fears left him, and he went back to 
Wisconsin. But in 1893 he av^oke one night and found his house on fire. 
He assisted his wife and youngest son in leaving the house : then he returned 
to rescue his two oldest sons, but he and his sons all perished in the flames. 

This was revealed to him three years in advance, but he could not tell it 
just as it came to pass. Hear readers, God revealed things to man before 
John came on the stage of action ; and God does reveal things to man since 
John has passed away. But the frailty of man will reject God’s revelations, 
and the wiser man gets within himself the stronger is liis frailty. 

Hear readers, man was too frail before John came, and man is too frail 
since John passed away, to understand a very short sentence of God’s talk. 
Shall we believe that John was perfect enough to understand all that was 
revealed to him in the book of Revelation, and yet every word of it 
perfectly as God wanted it to be ? No. Hear readers, John was a human 
mortal, the same as you and I : John was possessed of human frailty, as well 


THINGS FOUND IN THE BIBLE. 


131 


as you and I. But his revelations are there, and explained to the best of 
his ability. And any man that will accept light from God cannot deny but 
there is a foundation to all revelations. 

Man is made perfectly free, as far as God is concerned to accept or 
reject any or all the light that comes from God. But the revelations are 
there for you and I to reflect upon. And the revealed statements in the 
Old Testament as 'well as in the New, are enough to reveal to any person 
that we have something to live for •. enough to show to us that God 
has put us here for some purpose. Life is only duration. God was before 
creation as it now stands, and will be after this w’orld has passed away ; and 
as God has created our minds in his own image, God is duration and we 
must expect duration also, therefore we must expect to endure with God for- 
ever. As God is love, unity, purity, and peace, and as we are created in 
God’s own image, if we try to keep ourselves in God’s image, we must expect 
to enjoy that love, unity, purity, and peace with God forever. Satan is 
hatred, separation, corruption, and torment, and if we are the sons of Satan, 
and live in the image of Satan, we must expect to remain in the image of 
Satan. Satan is directly opposite to God, and we must take one side or 
the other. 

When our ministers tell us that John’s revelations are God’s -words in 
perfection, they are deceiving us ; but when they tell us that it is God’s 
word as near as human frailty could record it, they put us on an equality 
with John, to reflect upon it, and to interpret it. And when our ministers 
tell us that God will damn us because we walk in the image of Satan, and 
walk not in the image of God, they are mistaken ; for God is forgiveness, 
kindness, welcomeness, and happiness. And God cannot be a party to dev- 
ilishness, damnation, or hellishness of any kind ; for as soon as God comes 
out of godly kindness, and participates in hellish punishment, he is not 
God but Satan. Therefore it is not God, but Satan that damns us ; for 
every person carries the keys of heaven and hell in his own hand ; and Satan 
damns all that are damned, and God blesses all that are blessed. 


CHAPTER XI. 

THINGS FOUND IN THE BIBLE. 

In this chapter your attention is called to the things that I have found by study- 
ing the Bible. I shall not ask you to believe them because I have found them 
so, but study for yourselves, and if you find things different from what I 
have stated, please excuse my human frailty. 

In studying the Bible I find that the keeping of the Sabbath day was a 
command of God. And I find that the holy washing of the flesh for the 
remission of sins was a tradition of man. So I find one tradition of man, 
and one command of God standing side by side. And I find that Jesus 
came to John and asked John to permit him to obey the tradition of man 


136 


HOW ARE WE LED? 


just once in a lifetime. I find it to be the custom of Jesus and his aposties 
to obey the command of God fifty-two times in a year. I find that God was 
accustomed to teach his righteous people, and do them good through the 
mouth of Moses, on the Sabbath days. And I find that this very same God 
had the very same custom of teaching his righteous people, and of doing 
them good through the mouth of Jesus, on the very same Sabbath days. I 
find that not one word in the New Testament insinuates in the least that the 
seventh-day Sabbath was abolished by either Jesus or his apostles. But on 
the other hand I find that Paul said if Jesus had given us rest, would he not 
afterward have spoken of another day. Those words tell us that no other 
day was spoken, of. I find that 1529 years before Jesus was crucified, God 
commanded that his subjects should keep the seventh day of the week for a 
Sabbath. I find that 358 years after the crucifixion, Constantine commanded 
that his subjects should keep the first day of the week for a sabbath. This 
last ordinance was not found in the Bible, but it was transacted 292 years 
after the last chapter of the New Testament was written. Gitchell said it 
was a gross, absurd statement, that Constantine changed the Sabbath. This 
is correct. Constantine did not change the Sabbath ; he changed the law ; 
and it was the edict of Constantine that changed the Sabbath. 

I find in the fifth of Acts that the apostles said that we ought to obey 
God rather than man (Constantine) ; but Constantine’s law compelled his 
subjects to obey man rather than God. And I find that our present apostles 
tell us that we ought to obey Constantine rather than God. This last find- 
ing is not found in the Bible, but it is found in our pulpits 1863 years after 
Jesus was crucified. I find that Jesus and his apostles opened and read 
from the Scriptures before the New Testament was put into the Scriptures, 
and they taught us to obey the law that was recorded in those Scriptures, 
that was given on Mount Sinai. But the greatest thing that I find, is that 
preachers that will change the words of the Bible, and teach their fol- 
lowers deception, drive more men into infidelity than Col. Ingersoll does. 
A preacher that teaches his followers deception, is a man-made preacher, 
not a God- made preacher. 

Now you ask, What is a man-made preacher ? A man-made preacher is 
one that is educated to speak to please the people ; one that is trained to 
know about what the people want him to preach, and he will teach that 
whether he believes it or not, even if he has to change the words of the 
Bible to prove his points. A man-made preacher is one that preaches for 
the money that is in the pulpit, not for the salvation that is in the heart. 

Then you ask, What is a God-made preacher ? A God-made preacher is 
a preacher that will preach the truth to the best of his judgment, regard- 
less of anything. A God-made preacher will not try to make everybody 
believe that the apostles were perfect. If there was an apostle that was 
perfect, he was equal to Jesus, for Jesus was no more than perfect ; for 
God is perfection. And Christ is God, and when Jesus’ mind became per- 
fect enough, it became Christ. And if an apostle was perfect, that perfec- 
tion was in the mind, and if there was an apostle’s mind that was perfect, 
that mind was Christ. All the difference between Jesus and other men was 


THINGS FOUND IN THE BIBLE. 


137 


the perfection of the mind. A person that is a perfect devil, is at the 
greatest distance from godliness. 

A person that tries to put on Christ, tries to gain perfection of mind in 
godliness. If any apostle was perfect, he was perfect in godliness ; and if 
he was not perfect in godliness, he must have been possessed of human 
frailty. A minister of the gospel should try to be perfect enough in godli- 
ness to discern the imperfections in the apostolic writings ; and they should 
not be afraid or ashamed to show to the world the frailty as well as the 
perfection of the apostolic writings. And when we find one that says that 
the apostolic writings are so frail that he cannot gain righteous teachings 
from it, we should remember that his mind was created in perfect freedom ; 
and that he holds the keys of heaven and hell in his own hands ; and if he 
will not accept the righteousness that is in those writings, give him good 
advice, and then permit him to go on in that freedom in which he was cre- 
ated. Do not try to hide the frailty, neither try to magnify the righteousness, 
for that is trying to win souls through deception, not through righteousness. 
The person that is converted under the truth, and the truth alone, has no 
chance to backslide, and say that he was deceived. 

I have heard ministers say that there is nothing impossible with God. 
To this I would say, it is going to extremes just as much to say that there 
is nothing impossible with God, as it is to say that every word of the New 
Testament is God’s word in perfection. 

God is perfection in all kinds of righteousness. Satan is corruption, and 
has a path of his own. And it is impossible for God to walk outside of the 
path of righteousness, in the path of corruption, and remain God. God is 
freedom of mind, and he created man in his own image. It is impossible 
for God to go out of the path of righteousness into the path of corruption, 
and seize man and force him into the path of righteousness, and still permit 
him to remain in that freedom in which he was created. And it is impos- 
sible, for God, Christ, or Jesus, to brand the nature of man with Gitchell’s 
new covenant, and still create him in his own image, which is freedom to 
choose for himself. Satan will hold the mind of man out of that freedom 
in which God has created him. It is Satan that will drag man into all kinds 
of corruption, it is Satan that drags man to the bar to take the cursed drink 
after they have pledged themselves that they will drink no more ; it is Satan 
that will not permit man to live up to the pledges that he has made. Satan 
is in opposition to God ; Satan is the god of the sinner, and a more wilful 
god than the God of the righteous. 

Again, I have heard them say that man is his own free moral agent. I 
ask, How can they think that God has power over man, and yet man be his 
own free moral agent ? I claim that the mind of man is free from God ; if 
he be a moral man, he is a free moral agent ; if he is an immoral man, he 
is a free immoral agent. 

God has no power with man when man is outside of the path of right- 
eousness, for God is righteousness, and it is impossible for God to get out- 
side of that righteous path and remain God. But when man is trying to 


138 


HOW A&E WE LED? 


walk in the path of righteousness, God has great power with his mind. 
When a person submits to be mesmerized, the mind of the mesmerist has 
full power over the mind of the one that he is operating upon. But if he 
will not submit, the mesmerist has but little power over him. And when 
man is in a true righteous trance, the mind of God has the same power over 
the mind of man that the mind of the mesmerist has over the mind of the 
one that he is endeavoring to influence. But if man does not submit, God 
has no power over the mind. God created the mind free to think, and he 
never deprives it of that freedom. 

I stated that our ministers tell us that our church has no creed save 
the Bible, as other churches have. Let me ask, What constitutes a 
creed ? A summary of belief. The Bible is a creed, and when we believe 
different from the teachings of the Bible, we have more creeds than the 
Bible. When our teachings are different from the teachings of the Bible, 
whether written, printed, or verbal, it is a creed, aside from the Bible. 

To examine our creed let me say that I once had a sensation of mind 
similar to this : I seemed to be talking with both God and man. I will give 
this conversation just as it appeared to me then. 

I first thought to study the Bible. I began with the first chapter of 
Genesis. When I came into Exodus I found that God gave Moses the ten 
commandments by which to live a religious life. I read that book through, 
and I found that Moses was a ruler of a tribe of people, and I found that 
Moses made a creed by which his entire tribe should be compelled to live in 
accordance with God’s commands. 

God created man in perfect freedom. Moses’ creed took that freedom 
from man, and compelled him to live a religious life regardless of his in- 
clination. Thus Moses deprived man of that freedom in which God created 
him, thus showing Moses’ frailty. 

Jesus came and taught us to obey God’s commands of our own free will, 
using that freedom in which God created us. Soon after Jesus had 
ascended, Constantine did the very same thing that Moses did. Constantine 
made a creed that deprived all his subjects of that freedom in which God 
created them ; a creed that compelled all of liis subjects to live a religious 
life, regardless of their inclination. All the difference there is, Moses put 
his creed into the Bible, and we can read it ; Constantine kept his creed out 
of the Bible and we cannot read it. 

But Constantine made a creed and said, now we have a foundation upon 
which to build a church. Now I ask you to remember that Constantines 
creed is the foundation upon ivhich his church was built. Our government to- 
day has the best religious laws that a government could have. Our govern- 
ment compels the sons of God and the sons of Satan to walk side by side, 
regardless of creed or Christianity. It compels the sons of Satan to respect 
God’s commands enough to bestow to all people that freedom of mind in 
which God created them. Our government respects God’s commnnds enough 
to compel the sons of Satan to respect a Sabbath day, not as a sign between 
them and God, but in respect to our great religious teacher — Jesus. Our 
government ought to compel the sons of Satan to keep the first day of the 


THINGS FOUND IN THE BIBLE. 


139 


week as a Sabbath more strictly than they do, not for a sign between them 
and their god, but for a school-master to give to the sons of Satan a religious 
schooling. And our government ought to tell the people what it is kept 
for : for a school-master, not for deception. 

Sunday is, and ought to be, our national Sabbath. Our government does 
compel, and she ought to compel more strictly, her subjects to keep Sunday 
as a sabbath. Why ? Let me ask, Why should mothers train their chil- 
dren from their infancy up ? For to school them. Leave them perfectly 
free to Christianity, but teach them to respect those that want to be 
Christians. 

The Sabbath that God commanded his children to keep for a sign 
between him and them, should be left perfectly free according to the will of 
man, except, all people should be held from trampling upon the sons of God 
because they want to keep that sign. No child of Satan should be compelled 
to keep the sign that God gave to his children, for that would be hypocrisy ; 
neither should any person be permitted to slur a child of God because he 
wants to be a child of God. 

But as no church can stand without a foundation, I will now take up my 
conversation, as it were, with God and man. I wanted to examine a church ; 
I looked at the Roman church and found it had a large creed ; I found that 
it stood on a large foundation, and I found that the strongest plank that it 
had in its foundation was the Sabbath day. I turned to our church, and 
our minister told me that our church stood on the firmest foundation that 
there was ; our church had no creed save the Bible ; our church was built 
on the rock of Christ. I asked him what the rock of Christ was, and he 
said it was the new covenant. Then he told me that our church was based 
on the Bible, and the Bible alone ; that it had no foundation except 
the Bible. 

I asked God to become a child of his, and he told me to make a cove- 
nant with him ; and he told me that I would find his part of the covenant in 
the foundation of this church, written on stone. I went back to this church, 
and I found it on a very nicely painted foundation ; it looked nice to the 
eye of man, and there was a large stone leaned up against the east side of 
this foundation. I wanted to make a covenant with God, and he told me 
that his part of the covenant was already written down in the foundation 
(the Bible) of this church. I began to search this foundation for God’s part 
of a covenant which he told me he had written with his own finger. When 
I began to search God’s word, the brethren all began to rebuke me. The 
minister said, Come in, I will tell you all about that covenant. It was made 
of poor material ; it was faulty ; it has decayed ; it is abolished, dead, and 
laid aside. He said, You need no covenant ; Jesus has made a covenant for 
you. 

Dear readers, I would rather obey God than man. God told me that he 
wanted me to make a covenant, and that I would find his half written on a 
stone in this foundation. I went back to the minister and he told me that 
it was an old decayed stone, not fit to put in this foundation, so we have 
leaned it up against our foundation for a guide to our path, for a lamp to 


140 


HOW ARE WE LED \ 


our feet. It is good enough for our feet, but it is not good for our head ; 
it is abolished and laid aside. 

Dear readers, I found this same stone sound and solid, and that God’s 
commands were perfect. Then I wanted to examine the rock (the New Tes- 
tament) of Jesus. Then the brethren rebuked me more than ever. They 
said, You cannot understand it ; the preacher knows all about it ; come in, 
he will tell you all about it. But I said, I have made a covenant with God 
that I will obey his commands, and keep his sign. Dear readers, they did 
not want me now to come into their church any more ; they had no use for 
me after that. 

Then you ask me, Why do I call them brethren ? Why do I call Inger- 
soll and G-itchell brethren ? I answer, they are all brethren in human 
frailty. If I was to deny one, because I could see some frailty in him, I 
would have to deny the whole world, and they would have to deny me, for 
there is no human being but what is frail. 

But I wanted to search the rock of Jesus (the New Testament), that our 
church stands on, and the brethren again rebuked me. They told me that 
I could not understand it, that the preacher could tell me how it was, but I 
went on to search for myself. 

Dear readers, how do you think that I found that rock ? I found it too 
narrow for a foundation to our church. The rock is not wide enough for a 
foundation for a church. The old stone that Moses brought down from 
Mount Sinai is too much decayed to put into the foundation of a Christian 
church ; yet God said that it should last forever. So they leaned it up 
against the east side of the rock for a lamp to our feet, and then they w r ent 
to Constantine’s creed and got the strongest plank that they had (the Sun- 
day sabbath) and put it on the west side of the rock and painted it over 
nicely. Now they tell every member that comes into the church that it is 
Bible, and nothing but the Bible, that our church stands on. 

Now I will say right here that I w r as alone in my bed when I had my 
strange sensation. I could not go to sleep, and I could not lie still, nor 
could I tell what was the matter with me. I then went to my wife’s room 
and asked her to come to my room, but she refused. I next w T ent to my 
son’s bed, and asked him to lie down with him, but he also objected. I then 
returned to my room alone. It was there that I made my covenant with 
God ; it was there that I promised to obey God’s word as nearly as I could 
find it and understand it ; it was there that I learned that the mind of God 
could converse with the mind of man ; and it was there that I promised to 
be God’s servant, though I expect to fail in many points, for I know there 
is no human being but what is possessed of frailty. 

Before that time I was trying to live on the covenant that Jesus made. 
I was trying to believe that Jesus made a covenant for all the world ; 
but since that time, I have learned to believe that Jesus instructed us to 
make our own covenants, and to live up to them after we have them made. 
And to-day I believe that Saturday is the day for me to keep ; and I believe 
that the day for you to keep is the day that you think is right ; and all that 


THE MOTHER’S POWER. 


141 


I ask is that you don’t place me beneath yourself just because I want to 
obey God’s word as I understand it. 

Then you ask, why not all keep Saturday ? Because it is impossible for 
all people to think alike. Some want to keep Saturday because they find it 
commanded in the Bible, and they find nothing in the Bible that counter- 
mands it ; and when trying to be God’s children they want to obey God’s 
commands, whilst others care not for God’s commands, but want to keep 
the most popular day, the day that is first in rank. 

Then you ask, why not make our laws to compel all Christians to keep 
Saturday ? it would be so much nicer in deal and business if we all kept 
one day. 

Jesus taught us that the Sabbath was made to fit man, so man should 
not be compelled to fit the Sabbath. If our laws compel us to do business 
on the Sabbath, we can do that business without breaking the Sabbath, but 
the business that we are not compelled to do on the Sabbath we should omit 
until some other day, and so fulfil God’s commands. We have to do that 
way on Sunday. There are things that you can compel an officer to do on 
Sunday regardless of his religion. 

But you say, if all Christians were compelled to keep Saturday, would 
not we be more favored with our laws ? We are fairly protected now, with 
our laws. Moses compelled all of his subjects to keep the Sabbath day 
holy, and he made more hypocrites than he did Israelites. Also Constan- 
tine, after he had fixed the first day of the week as the sabbath, com- 
pelled all of his subjects to keep it holy. And he also made many more 
hypocrites than he made Christians. So we find that compulsory religion is 
hypocrisy. 

Let us give our subjects their schooling, compel them to respect Chris- 
tianity, but leave them perfectly free in regard to religion, to choose for 
themselves. 

We cannot have too much Christian protective law, but one Christian 
compulsory law is one too much. 


CHAPTER XII. 

THE MOTHER’S POWER. 

I will now say a few words to the mothers, and to the girls that may be 
mothers. This is the most important chapter that there is in this book. 
As the woman was the first to lead into sin, so she must be the first to lead 
out of sin. 

I was out to hear Elder M. preach a few days ago. I thought he 
preached a good sermon, and will now examine a part of this sermon. He 
told us of the amusing theater, which is always crowded with the young, 
who are constantly seeking after amusement. From that he went to card 
and billiard tables in the licensed saloon, and many other such places he 


142 


HOW ARE WE LED « 


pictured out. Then he turned to the mothers and addressed them thus : 
‘ ‘ Mothers, f. /ou would have sweet entertainment at home, your children 
would rather stay at home than to go abroad. ” This was good, but I felt 
as though it was not a hundredth part enough, so I have composed a short 
chapter to give my readers. 

I will say, What a blessed thought, what a blessed subject to write 
upon ! — Sweet entertainment at home. How children delight in sweet en- 
tertainment at home. How husbands enjoy a sweet entertainment at home. 
How wives and mothers are made happy by a sweet entertainment at home. 
But, dear mothers, he did not give the secret of a sweet entertainment at 
home. 

Let us now look at what we so often see in our newspapers, how mothers 
have raised a fine family of children without the aid of a departed father. 
We never read how fathers have raised such a nice family of children with- 
out the aid of a departed mother. We so often read about some little ones 
kneeling and repeating their prayers that a departed mother has taught them, 
but we never read of little ones kneeling to repeat the prayers that a 
departed father has taught them. Then we look around and see other 
mothers that seem to be just as anxious to raise good children as those 
mothers who raised their children without the aid of a departed father, yet 
they have not raised such children. Why ? Why should not those mothers 
raise just as good children as the first ? Because that cultivation was not 
begun soon enough, and because they were not watched close enough. 
When should mothers begin this cultivation? Dear mothers, the earlier 
you begin this cultivation the more perfect you will get it. Mothers ought 
to begin this cultivation when they are girls, by cultivating their own minds, 
though but few do begin that early. 

How can mothers cultivate the disposition of their children, when they 
are girls themselves ? By cultivating their own minds, that they may mark 
the spirits of their offspring with Jesus’ birth-mark ( which was whiter than 
snow ) rather than to mark them with Cain’s birth-mark, (which is proved to 
be blacker than charcoal). Num. 14 : 18, says, “Visiting the iniquity of 
the fathers upon the children. ” Cultivate your own disposition, and you 
have conquered the disposition of your child, “ for the tree is known by his 
fruit.” Matt. 12 : 33. God created your mind in Ins own image, but you 
have entered into first death. Get your mind back into the image of God 
(which is a love for godliness in any shape that you may meet it), and con- 
stantly hold your rqind in the image of God (by constantly loving godliness, 
wherever 3-011 meet it). Then you have conquered Satan ; then you have 
cultivated 3 T our own disposition, and } t ou will wash Cain’s birth-mark from 
the mind of your offspring, and make their little spirits whiter than snow. 
Then if you cultivate them, from their infancy up, you will have children 
that will delight in the sweet entertainments at home, and they will have a 
mother that will enjoy sweet entertainment at home. Mothers can do this, 
let the fathers be good or bad ; but fathers cannot do this and let the 
mothers be good or bad. This is the whole secret of raising a nice family 
of children without the aid of a departed father. 


THE MOTHER’S POWER. 


143 


It is not the style and quality of the dress that makes a nice child ; it is 
not the shape of the face, or the color of the hair, that makes a nice child, 
but it is the quality of the spirit, the mind, and the actions. It seems hard 
to put it all on the shoulders of the mothers and say naught to the fathers, 
but fathers are the tree that is barren, whilst mothers are the tree that is 
known by its fruits. We curse the mothers for bringing forth evil fruit ; 
we say that the mother was just the same when she was young. Why 
should we not praise the mother for bringing forth good fruit ? Why 
should not we show to the mother that she can cultivate the disposition of 
her offspring ? Mothers take the lead in wickedness or godliness, and they 
know it not. 

God made Eve in his own image, pure, upright, and holy. Satan came 
slyly creeping up with his long fire-red tongue, and whispered in the heart 
of Eve to disobey God’s word, and when God described that Satan and that 
tongue, the human eye could not see the spiritual object : so the human 
tongue cast the curse on to the serpent that came slyly creeping up with his 
long fire-red tongue. It was the tongue of Satan that pierced the heart of 
Eve ; it was the spirit of Satan that dealt the first hell-fire into the spirit of 
Eve. And it was the spirit of Eve that first partook of the fordidden fruit, 
and that forbidden fruit Vvas disobedience. The spirit of Satan talked with 
the spirit of Eve, and the spirit of Eve disobeyed the command of God. 

Josephus in his writings said, ‘ £ Moses wrote some in parable, some in 
rhyme, and other in the true word of God.” And when we look at Eve’s 
spiritual happiness, we find it compared with an earthly garden of fruits, 
and Satan compared with the earthly serpent. 

Moses was a great spiritual teacher, and used many earthly parables 
without telling us that they were earthly parables. Jesus was also a greater 
spiritual teacher, and he used more earthly parables than Moses, but he told 
us that they were* parables. 

Mother Eve was first to partake of the forbidden fruit (disobedience of 
God’s word). This fruit was not taken into the stomach, but into the mind. 
And mother was the one that brought forth evil fruit (Gain’s birth-mark). 
The flesh and the bone is inherited from the parents, but the disposition of 
the mind is a birth-mark from the mother. 

As I said, hell-fire first rolled from the long red tongue of Satan, and 
lodged in the human heart, and ever since that time hell-fire has rolled from 
the human tongue into the human ear. And if the mother wants to enjoy 
sweet entertainment at home, all she can do is to keep that hell-fire washed 
from her tongue. Fathers can wash their tongues in the same water, but the 
mothers are the winners, even if the fathers fail to wash their tongues. 

I said all that mothers could do was to keep their tongues washed ; but 
they have much more than that to do. Many a little infant spirit has been 
created white and pure, you might say, almost perfect, 1 but after its creation, 
it has been neglected, and the tare and the thorn were permitted to grow. 

Mothers, you should watch your infants, and see that they obey your 
commands. There is nothing so destructive to the tare and the thorn as 
obedience. Teach your infants to obey your commands, and when they are 


144 


HOW ARE WE LED? 


grown, they will obey God’s commands. Mothers should command their 
infants with mild words, but positive. Never give a command except you 
see that your child obeys it ; let it be ever so small a command, or so 
small a child. When you have once given your command, though a thou- 
sand stand by and say, Let the child go its way this time, heed not their say- 
ings ; see that the child obeys your command. 

Never oppose your husband in making the child obey his command ; 
though he may be wrong in his punishment, you do more harm to the child 
by interfering than he would do to the child by an unjust punishment. If 
your child is thoroughly trained to obey your command, it will not cause 
the father to punish it. 

If your neighbor is commanding her child in your presence, remember 
that we are all imperfect ; as you see her imperfection, bridle your own 
tongue. Let her command her child as she may, do not drop one word that 
will cause the child to disobey the command, but, dear mother, as for your 
own commands, let them be slow, mild, pleasant, and positive. 


Be slow and mild 
In commanding your child ; 

Be firm and true 
In what you tell it to do. 

When you give your command, 

See that it may stand. 

Then you will have a child 
That will not care to roam, 

But Avill love its dear mother 
And stay with her at home. 

When you’ve commanded your child 
See that it obey ; 

Heed not the vain words 
That others may say. 


THE APOCRYPHA. 

The books of the Apocrypha are a Bible that is not found among our 
Christian people of the present day, neither was it found in the Hebrew 
nation. But in reading this bible I find three men that were telling of the 
Strongest things on earth. The first said that wine was the strongest thing 
on earth, and to prove his argument he said : When man is under the 
influence of wine he will do anything, even things that he would abstain 
from when not under its influence. But the second said that a king was 
the strongest thing on earth ; that he could sit upon his throne, give his 
command, and all would be done without his lifting a finger. But Zorobabel 
(the third) said that woman was stronger than all else. He said that he 
saw a woman sitting beside the king, and she took his crown from his head 
and placed it upon her head ; and she struck him with her left hand. If 
she took any displeasure to him, he was fain to flatter. 


children’s thoughts. 


145 


Zorobabel took this way to show that woman was yet stronger than man, 
yea even stronger than the king. But he said there w r as one thing yet that 
was stronger than the woman, and that was The Truth. He said the truth 
was stronger than woman. 

To this I would say that in raising my boys I always told them that, let 
them do what they might, if they would tell me the truth, that would make it 
all right ; but if they told me a lie, I would give them double punishment, — 
a whipping for the deed they did, and a whipping for the lie they told ; and 
my bo} T s seldom got the double punishment. But one of them being more 
possessed of Cain’s birth-mark heeded not my teaching, and his word has 
but little strength, whilst the others find great power in what they say. 
Again, I had to teach my boys that they must not be deceived by the sons 
of Satan ; because they told the truth, they must not believe that everybody 
else told the truth. 

But Zorobabel said that woman is stronger than man. To this I say 
that mothers have the power to brand their little infant’s spirits with Cain’s 
birth-mark ; or by cultivating their own natures, mothers have the powder of 
stamping this lovingkindness, this holy righteousness, this pure whiteness 
that was stamped on the little infant spirit of Jesus, on her own little infant’s 
spirits, whilst fathers have not this power. 

Again, after the little infant spirit is born, after the mother has lost the 
power of impressing its nature, she has the power of cultivating the talent, 
she has the power of keeping the tare and the thorn down that it grow not up 
to choke the talent ; yes, the mother has power there. 

And again, the wife has the power to cultivate and grow the love and 
kindness of a husband by always greeting him with a loving embrace, with 
a smile and a kiss. Yes, and she has the power to cultivate in the mind of 
her husband a dread and a hatred by constantly dealing out to him a double 
portion of hell-fire. Yes, woman has more power than man ; more power 
than a king ; more power than Jesus Christ ; and more power than God him- 
self, to stamp this loving nature, and to cultivate the growing talent. 


CHAPTER XIII. 

CHILDREN'S THOUGHTS. 

I will put down a few things for the little people. Many older ones may like to 
reflect upon them ; but I will give them to the little people. And so will date 
this chapter, Dec. 25, 1895, Anno Domini, and begin it by wishing the little 
folks “A Merry Christmas!” 

December 25tii, 1895, A. D. 

To-day I wish all people a Merry Christmas ! How many little people 
can tell why we wish one another a Merry Christmas ? I will tell the little 


146 


HOW ARE WE LED 5 


folks wliy I wish all a Merry Christmas to-day. It is to make them remem- 
ber that just 1900 years ago to-day there was a little boy born in a stable, 
and they laid him in a manger, and called his name Jesus. After he got 
old enough to do his Father’s will, they gave him a new name, — Christ. 

How many little boys or girls can tell how long it has been since they 
first laid him in the manger ? 1895 years ? — No. It has been 1900 years. 

Hid they lay him there in the year one, Anno Domini ? — No. They laid 
him there four years and seven daj^s before the year one began. 

How many little boys or girls can tell what Anno Domini means ? Is it 
for the birth of Jesus ? — No. It is in honor of the man that changed the 
length of the year. 

How many little folks can tell what Anno means ? I will tell you what 
it means. Anno means a year. We do not use that word now ; we just say, 
a year, and let it go at that. 

How many little folks can tell what Domini means ? — Domini means a 
title, a great name. We would say, Honor ; a great title for a man that 
we would choose to make our laws ; as Honorable H. H. Ragon, one whom 
we once chose to make our laws. 

How many little children can tell who received that great honor, that 
great name, Domini ? Do I hear some one say, It was Jesus ? — No. 
Jesus received a greater name than that. The name that Jesus received for 
the great acts that he did, was one of God’s names, — Christ. 

Then who received this great (Honor) Domini ? — It was Julius Caesar 
that received this great Domini. 

How many little folks can tell what Julius Caesar did that he should re- 
ceive this great title ? You might call him a great law-maker. He made 
the law that a year should consist of 365 days and 6 hours. They have 
added 48 minutes and 48 seconds to the year since that time. 

Now the greatest question of all is, How many little folks are there that 
can tell how old Jesus was when Julius Csesar made this law ? Some say 
that his birth-day is lost, and that we know not when it comes, whilst most 
everybody says that his birth-day is the 25th of December. If this last 
statement be true, he was four years and seven days old when Julius Caesar 
passed this law. 

If he was born on Christmas day, he was twelve years old at the close of 
the year 8 a. d. on Christmas day. The records tell us that in the year 8 
he was found in the temple conversing with the doctors. But Luke 2 : 
41-46 tells us that at the feast of the passover when he was twelve years 
old, he was found in the temple conversing with the doctors. He was born 
in the fall, when they went to pay tribute. He was found in the temple 
conversing with the doctors in March, when they went to the feast of the 
passover. It must have been in the year 9 A. d. when he was twelve years 
and three months old. 

This would agree with U le records in the year 26 a. d. , when he began 
to be 30 years old. Luke 3 : 23. Then he was baptized, and afterward, at 
different times, for three years he was tempted of the devil. 


children’s thoughts. 


147 


In the year 29 a. d. he was past 32 years old, and was teaching the 
Scriptures. When he had taught the Scriptures for more than three years, 
in March, in the year 33 a. d. , he was crucified. 

Now, how many little folks can tell why we wish one another Merry 
Christmas ? — It is in remembrance of the birth-day of Jesus. 

How many little folks can tell how old Jesus was when he was crucified ? 
If he was crucified in a. d. 33, he must have been in his 37th year , he 
would have been 37 years old that Christmas day. 

Next, I would like to show to some of the little folks that Josephus, the 
great Jewish historian, was neither an Israelite nor a Christian. At least I 
conceive such an idea from his writings. And his works show us that it was 
taken from records of which our Bible is a part of such records. If we had 
all the records, it would be more than we could study. 

Josephus’s book is divided into different parts. In the second part, on 
page 594, he says: “I have heard from the ancient men of Egypt that 
Moses was of Heliopolis, and that he thought himself obliged to follow the 
customs of his forefathers, and offer his prayers in the open air toward the 
city walls.” This shows that Josephus got his knowledge, not from 
the Jews, neither from any source in the Jewish nation, but from the an- 
cient men outside of the Jews. And he tells us that they had religious men 
before Moses, and that they prayed to their God before Moses prayed. If 
we had the records of that religion, we might have another Bible. But oui 
people will nob accept any religion but that in which Jesus was educated ; 
and then they tell us that God chose the Jews, and gave them religion ; 
and that he gave no religion to any other people. I say that the religion of 
Jesus was pure, but because our Bible is silent in regard to the religion of 
others, we do not need to say that we have proved that no people save the 
Jews received religion from God. 

Again, on page 35 Josephus gives a lengthy story about Abraham’s 
placing Isaac on the altar, and he says, ‘ ‘ It was on the mountain upon 
which King David afterward built his temple. ” 

On page 567 he tells us that Titus Caesar found a river that had running 
water one day in seven, and it was called the sabbatic river. The Bible is 
silent in regard to this river, but have we proved by the Bible that he has 
deceived us about this river, because the Bible is silent ? He says, “ It was 
found in Arcea, and belonged to Agrippa’s kingdom,” “and was called the 
sabbatic river.” It was entirely outside of the Jewish countries, yet the 
people there knew about a sabbath day, and named this river after it. 

He also tells us that Adam had 33 sons and 23 daughters, but the Bible 
is silent in regard to that. 

In speaking of Jesus he says, “ There was a man, if it be lawful to call 
him a man,” etc. Josephus was not a Christian, and he would not call 
that man Christ, yet he knew that Jesus was more than a common man. 

Then we pass to the books of the Apocrypha, and there we find records 
from the year 623 before the change of time made by Caesar, and as late 
down as the year 161 before this change, making a period of 462 years. 
And we find in those books that they were trying to live religious lives, 


148 


ROW ARE WE LED? 


similar to the Jewish religion. Moreover it appears that their religion 
sprang from the Jewish religion, for they called themselves Israel, the same 
as we call ourselves Christians. Our people will not accept their books as 
the Bible, nor their teachings, because they were not found with the Hebrew 
nation. 

This is all right, we have Bible enough ; but should we say that we have 
positive proof that God accepted no people as his children but the Jews, 
because the Jewish records are silent in regard to them ? The Jews kept a 
record of their own business, but not of the religion of people outside of 
their nation. 

We find in those books that they had a number of men called Jesus ; 
but none of them were called Jesus Christ, though one of them was a wise 
man, and he wrote a book called, “ The Wisdom of Jesus.” 

Now I will quote a few verses for my little folks from the “Wisdom ” of 
this Jesus ; from the wisdom of a Jesus whom we are not taught about ; 
from the wisdom of Jesus whom our Christian people know nothing about. 

I want to be a child of God, and I want to accept religion under any 
name that it may come to me. If it is true religion, under the name of 
Christianity, it is good. If it is true religion under the name of Israelitism, 
it is just as good : or even Abrahamism, or any other ism, if it is true 
religion, it is good, regardless of the name. God knows no difference in the 
name ; it is only men that know the difference. 

I w r ant to be a child of God ; I want to be a brother to the Christians ; I 
want to be a brother to Jesus Christ ; I want to be a brother to the Israelites, 
and to Abraham, and I want to be a brother to this Jesus that was found 
outside of the Hebrew nation, 196 years before Jesus Christ was born ; or 
200 years B. c. (Before Csesar’s change of the year.) 

I believe that Abraham was a child of God ; I believe that Jacob was a 
child of God ; I believe that many of the Jews were children of God ; I 
believe that this Jesus, found outside of the Hebrew nation, was a child of 
God, and I believe that Jesus Christ was a child of the very same God. 

Now, how many little folks can tell the difference between this last 
named child of God and the other children of God ? Little folks, I will 
tell you the difference : the difference is, the last was a true Son of God, and 
the others were adopted sons of God. 

How many little folks can tell how an adopted child of God is made ? 
and how the true Son of God was made ? Little folks, I will tell you. 
When little folks do evil deeds, they enter into spiritual death ; when they 
repent of all their evil deeds, and promise God that they will try to do no 
more evil deeds, they are resurrected again to God, and then become an 
adopted child of God. 

The true Son of God was raised by an Israelitic mother ; one that was 
trying to do right herself. His little mind was pure when he was born ; 
he was raised by such true Israelitic parents that he never did anything 
wicked, so he never entered into that spiritual death, and he never had to 
be resurrected to God. He was not an adopted son of God, but a true child 


children’s thoughts. 


149 


of God from his birth to his death. His mother should receive the praise of 
raising a true child of God. 

This Jesus was a true Son of God, and when he became old enough to 
become a full servant of God, God gave him one of his names, which was 
Christ, and after that he was called Jesus Christ. But now we will turn to 
another Jesus, which was also a child of God, one that was found outside of 
the Hebrew nation. And he tells us that obedience to God is the root of 
wisdom. He was not as wise as this Jesus was, therefore I should think he 
was not as obedient. He was found among those people that Elder Gitchell 
tells us that God’s religion was not extended to, and his religion seems to be 
a branch of this same religion that Elder Gitchell said was confined to the 
Jews alone. 

In referring to the Jewish people, he calls them the congregation of 

APOCRYPHA. 

Ecclesiasticus. 

The wisdom of Jesus, the son of 
Sirach (Chap. 24 : 23). 

Moses commanded for an heritage 
unto the congregation of Jacob. 


I will not say that the teachings of 
this Jesus are as good as the teachings 
of Jesus Christ ; but I will quote some 
of his writings, and see if we cannot get 
some good from them. 


ECCLESIASTICUS. 


Chap. 3 : 1. Hear me your father, O children, and do thereafter, that ye may 
be safe. 

Chap. 2:1. My son, if thou come to serve the Lord, prepare thy soul for temp- 
tation. 

Verse 2. Set thy heart aright, and constantly endure, and make not haste in 
time of trouble. 


Chap. 33 : 1. There shall no evil happen unto him that feareth the Lord. 
Chap. 11:1. Wisdom lifteth up the head of him that is of low degree. 

Chap. 12: 3. There can no good come to him that is always occupied in evil. 
Chap. 1 : 14. To fear the Lord is the beginningof wisdom. 

Verse 20. The root of wisdom is the fear of the Lord. 


Verse 12. The fear of the Lord maketh a merry heart. 

Verse 13. Whoso feareth the Lord, it shall go well with him at the last, and he 
shall find favor in the day of his death. 

Chap. 5 : 12. If thou hast understanding, answer thy neighbor ; if not, lay thy 
hand upon thy mouth. 

Chap. 26 : 20. When thou hast gotten a fruitful possession .... sow it with 
thine own seed. 


Chap. 6 : 18. My son, gather instruction from thy youth up : so shalt thou find 
wisdom till thine old age. 

Verse 23. Give ear, my son, receive my advice, and refuse not my counsel. 


150 


HOW ARE WE LED? 


Verse 32. If thou wilt, thou nhalt be taught ; and if thou wilt apply thy mind, 
thou shalt be prudent. 

Verse 33. If thou love to hear, thou shalt receive understanding : and if thou 
bow thine ear, thou shalt be wise. 

Verse 37. Let thy mind be upon the ordinance of the Lord, and meditate con- 
tinually in his commandments. 

Verse 28. For at the last thou shalt find her rest, and thou shalt be turned to 
thy joy. 

Chap. 7 : 3. Sow not upon the furrows of unrighteousness, and thou shalt not 
reap them sevenfold. 

Verse 18. Change not a friend for any good, by no means ; neither a faithful 
brother for the gold of Ophir. 

Verse 19. Forego not a wise and good woman : for her grace is above gold. 

Verse 26. Hast thou a wife after thy mind ? forsake her not : 

Chap. 7 : 23. Hast thou children ? instruct them, and bow down their neck 
from their youth. 

(If we would follow the advice of this Jesus, we would find a righteous 
path to walk in ; but this last verse is the most needed of any. Instruct 
your children from their youth, and not only from their youth, but from 
their infancy. You cannot begin too young. ) 


Chap. 11 : 15. Wisdom, knowledge, and understanding of the law, are of the 
Lord : love, and the way of good works, are of him. 

Chap. 19 : 20. In all wisdom is the performance of the law, and knowledge of 
his omnipotency. 

Verse 22. The knowledge of wickedness is not wisdom. 

Verse 26. There is a wicked man that hangeth down his head sadly ; but in- 
wardly he is full of deceit. 

Chap. 26: 4. Whether a man be rich or poor, if he have a good heart toward 
the Lord, he shall at all times rejoice with a cheerful countenance. 

Chap. 24 : 1. Wisdom shall praise herself, and shall glory in the midst of her 
people. 

Verse 17. As the vine brought I forth a pleasant savour, and my flowers are the 
fruit of honor. 

Verse 27. He maketh the doctrine of knowledge appear as the light. 

Verse 34. Behold that I have not laboured for myself onty, but for all them 
that seek wisdom. 

Chap. 14 : 5. He that is evil to himself, to whom will he be good ? 

Verse 15. Shalt thou not leave . . . thy labours to be divided by lot ? 

Verse 16. Sanctify thy soul ; for there is no seeking of dainties in the grave. 

Chap. 15 : 1. He that feareth the Lord will do good. 

Chap. 7:21. Defraud . . . a good servant . . . not of liberty. 

Chap. 15 : 11. Say not thou, it is through the Lord that I fell away ; for thou 
oughtest not to do the things that he hateth. 


children’s thoughts. 


151 


Verse 12. Say not thou, he hath caused me to err : for he hath no need of the 
sinful man. 

Verse 16. He hath setfflre and water before thee : stretch forth thy hand unto 
whether thou wilt. 

Verse 17. Before man is life and death : and whether him liketh shall be given 
him. 

This death and this life is spiritual life and death, and as far as God is 
concerned, man is created in freedom to take his choice. 

This death is not for the spirit to vanish away as the body decayeth and 
vanisheth away ; but it is a separation from God. The spirit is separated from 
God’s kingdom (and goes into Satan’s kingdom), wh: )h is an everlasting 
separation, or an everlasting death. The sinner’s spirit lasts just as long 
as the saint’s spirit, but it remains in that separation ; in that everlasting 
death. 

Verse 20. He hath commanded no man to do wickedly, neither hath he given 
any man license to sin. 

Chap. 19 : 19. The knowledge of the commandments of the Lord is the doctrine 
of life. 

This life is spiritual life. When this Jesus speaks of life, he does not 
tell us whether it is spiritual or mortal life. 

Chap. 1 : 12. The fear of the Lord maketh a merry heart, and giveth joy, and 
gladness, and a long life. 

I believe that God inspired this verse into the mind of this Jesus, and I 
believe that this Jesus was possessed of human frailty, the same as Moses. 
If this Jesus thought that this long life was a life on this earth, he showed 
that frailty : for if God spoke of a long life, it was a long spiritual life. 
And to-day many of our preachers show the same human frailty (by taking 
much of Moses’ writings, and also much of the teachings of Jesus), as mean- 
ing earthly things. 

Chap. 33 : 2. A wise man hateth not the law ; but he that is a hypocrite therein 
is as a ship in a storm. 

This is just what I said when Robert Ingersoll said, “infidelity was 
liberty : Christianity was bondage. ” The infidel is the man that is bound, 
for he has nothing but the bonds of our civil law to hold him within the 
bounds of that law ; whilst the true Christian has no desire to lean against 
the bonds of the civil law, therefore the true Christian is the free man. 
Little folks, learn to be the wise man that hateth not the law of God. 

Chap. 4:1. My son, defraud not the poor of his living. 

Verse 4. Reject not the supplication of the afflicted. 

Verse 2. Make not a hungered soul sorrowful. 

Verse 3. Add not more trouble to an heart that is vexed. 

Chap. 6:4. A wicked soul shall destroy him that hath it. 


152 


HOW ARE WE LED? 


Chap. 7 : 35. Be not slow to visit the sick. 

Chap. 8 : 3. Strive not with a man that is full of tongue. 

Verse 5. Reproach not a man that turneth from sin, but remember that we are 
all worthy of punishment. 

, (He says, “ Remember that we are all worthy of punishment.” There is 
no human being but what sometimes shows human frailty, and is worthy of 
punishment.) 

Chap. 25 : 1. In three things I was beautified, and stood up beautiful both 
before God and man : the unity of brothers, the love of neighbors, a man and a 
wife that agree together. 

(Little girls, read this verse and remember it. There is not a verse 
between the lids of our Bible that is sweeter than this ; and yet it is rejected 
because it was not found in the Hebrew nation. Little girls, let me say that 
mothers can make this unity of brothers ; mothers can aid in this love of 
neighbors ; and wives can effect this agreement with their husbands. The 
pride of fashion is the great root of evil, and women alone govern it. They 
will strain themselves to the utmost extremes to be ahead of their neighbor, 
and if their halter is limited, they bray like a mule. The meanest man on 
the face of the earth cannot misuse his wife when her arms are around his 
neck, and a kiss is placed upon liis cheek. The best man on earth cannot 
abstain from being stirred when his w r ife stands before him with her fists 
clinched, her eyes like meteors, and hell-fire rolling from her tongue. Man 
fights with his fists, woman fights with her tongue ; and her blow is the 
sharpest. ) 

Verse 13. Give me any plague, but the plague of the heart ; and any wicked- 
ness, but the wickedness of a woman. 

Verse 16. I had rather dwell with a lion and a dragon, than to keep house with 
a wicked woman. (Read our own Bible, Prov. 21 ; 9, 19 ; 25 : 24.) 

Verse 17. The wickedness of a woman changeth her face. 

Verse 18. Her husband shall sit among his neighbors [not enjoying sweet enter- 
tainment at home]. 

Verse 19. All wickedness is but little to the wickedness of a woman. 

Verse 20. As the climbing of a sandy way ... is a wife full of words to a 
quiet man. 

(The women will curse me for writing this to their young folks, but it is 
the truth of God that women lead into sin ; Eve first partook of the fruit of 
wickedness, and gave it to Adam to eat, and women must lead out of sin, 
if we ever get out.) 

Verse. 24. Of the woman came the beginning of sin, and through her we all die. 

Chap. 25 : 1. Blessed is the man that hath a virtuous wife. 

(This virtue means all kinds of righteousness. ) 

Verse 2. A virtuous woman rejoiceth her husband. 


153 


children’s thoughts. 


Verse 3. A good wife is a good portion. 

Verse 7. An evil wife is a yoke shaken to and fro. 

Verse 13. The grace of a wife delighteth her husband. 

Verse 14. A silent and loving woman is a gift of the Lord. 

Verse 15. A faithful woman is a double grace, and her continent [mind] can- 
not be valued. 

(These are the words of a man named Jesus.) 


Verse 14. There is nothing so much worth as a mind well instructed. 

Verse 16. As the sun .... in the high heavens; so is the beauty of a good 
wife. 

Verse 17. As the clear light is upon the holy candlestick ; so is the beauty of 
the face in ripe age. 

Verse 18. As the golden pillars are upon the sockets of silver; so are the fair 
feet with a constant heart. (Note this : with a constant heart.) 

Verse 24. An honest woman will reverence her husband. 

(The men may think that I am justifying them, but I am not ; I am 
only saying that it lies in the power of woman, but not in the power of man, 
to lead us back into righteousness.) 

A woman that honoureth her husband shall be judged wise of all. 

Chap. 37 : 2. Is it not a grief unto death, when a companion and friend is 
turned to an enemy ? ( Grief unto death, when a campanion is turned to an enemy.) 

Verse 4. There is a companion which rejoiceth in the prosperity of a friend, 
but in the time of trouble will be against him. (A friend in need is a friend in- 
deed.) 

Chap. 36 : 22. The beauty of a woman cheereth the countenance. 

Verse 23. If there be kindness, meekness, and comfort in her tongue (verse 22), 
man loveth nothing better. 

Chap. 25 : 21, 23. Stumble not at the beauty of a woman . . . for a wicked 
woman abateth the courage, maketh an heavy countenance and a wounded heart. 

Chap. 7 : 19. Forego not a wise and good woman : for her grace is above gold. 

Chap. 15 : 3. With the bread of understanding shall she feed him, and give 
him the waters of wisdom to drink. 

Little folks, The above quotations are taken from a religious treatise 
that was not found in the Jewish nation, it is called The Apocrypha. These 
writings teach us that religion was practiced by people that lived outside 
of the Jewish nation for more than 500 years ; how much more we cannot 
tell. It also shows us that they tried to live the same kind of religion that 
Moses gave to the Israelites. It appears to have been taken from this very 
religion that Elder Gitchell tells us was given to the Jews alone. 

Little folks, when you go to church, and your minister tells you that 
religion was given to no other nation or people but the Jews, you go home 
and ask your father to buy you The Apocrypha. Our preachers rather keep 


154 


HOW ARE WE LED? 


this book out of our sight. Why ? — Because it contradicts their state- 
ments. They tell us that religion was given to the Jews alone, and that 
this book was taken from the Jewish nation ; if it was, that was one way to 
take religion into another nation, but the records of this book itself show 
us that it was practiced in another nation for more than 500 years, — many 
years after Joshua’s time, before the building of Solomon’s temple, and on 
down to the year 137 b. c. Our preachers wish to prove to us, and will 
prove to us, that religion was given to the Jews alone ; but how will they 
prove it ? Just as Elder Gitchell proved many of his points ; they will 
prove by the Bible where the Bible is perfectly silent on this question. Let 
us look at the wild Indians of our country, and we see them worshiping the 
Great Spirit, thus showing that their forefathers have had some religious 
training. 

Now how many boys or girls, can tell us the name of the father of this 
Jesus, that did this writing 200 years [b. c.] before the change of the length 
of the year ? His name was Sirach. 

How many little boys or girls can tell us the name of the earthly father 
of this Jesus that was born four years and seven days before this change ? 
His name was David, and he was a carpenter. 

How many little boys or girls can tell how long a year was before this 
change was made ? They had two years with 354 days, and then one year 
with 383 days ; every third year would have 383 days. But the time was 
not kept correctly that way, so Julius Caesar changed the length of the 
year. 

How many little boys and girls can tell how long the year was after 
Caesar made this change ? For more than 1600 years the length of the year 
was 365 days and six hours. 

How many little boys or girls can tell how long our years are at the pres- 
ent time ? It is reported, but I cannot find the proof, so I give it as a re- 
port. It is reported that in a. d. 1670 the authorities of Europe decided 
that the year was too short, and that on the 20th day of October all should 
cease from counting time for two weeks ; and on the 14th day they should 
count that as the 21st day of October, thus dropping thirteen days entirely 
from their record. At that time they added 48 minutes and 48 seconds to 
their year, and since that time our year consists of 365 days, 6 hours, 48 
minutes, and 48 seconds. This affected Washington’s birthday so that his 
birthday is not positive. 

Now I have one more thing that I would like to place before all of my 
readers, after you have read and answered the questions for yourself. 

Elder Gitchell told us that the religious laws of Moses destroyed God’s 
word, which he wrote with his own finger. Col. Ingersoll told us that there 
was a religious law in this country, which was in full force up to 1875, 
which was as unreasonable as Moses’ laws were. We will not lay this to the 
Roman Church, for that church had but little power in this country at the 
time that law was framed. 

We will examine Benedict’s Church History a little, and see what he 
said of this. 


benedict’s history. 


155 


DAVID BENEDICT’S HISTORY. 

(Page 934.) In this age of disclosure and renunciations , all denominational sins will 
come out , without the aid of confessors. 

On the score of persecution most writers omit those of other hierarchies , and fix alto- 
gether on the bloody deeds of the Catholics. 

With the Catholics it was the mass or the musket. The full sacraments of the Church, 
or tortures, gibbets, and flames. 

With the Church of England it was the prayer book, or the prison. The whole service 
of rubric, or the severest penalties of the laic. 

Submission or Smithfield. 

Mr. Benedict tells us that the churches are all foul, but other writers 
omit noticing this, and just tell us of the bloody deeds of the Catholics. 

He first points out the Catholic Church, and tells us that they had to live 
up to the creed of the church or be put to. death. The church holds the 
same creed yet, but they dare not come out so plainly with their crimes as 
they did during the Dark Ages. 

Let me ask, What better has the Church of England done than the 
Catholic Church ? A man might as well be laid in the tomb as to be im- 
prisoned for life ; yes, he might as well be burned at a stake : it is no greater 
punishment than imprisonment, and much sooner ended. 

Then he goes on to tell us about the Puritan Church. What a deceitful 
name. Puritan means pure, but Benedict tells us that the Puritan Church 
was as foul as any of them. 

(Page 934.) With the Puritians it was the meeting-house worship or the custody of 
the jailer, . . . Parish rates or the stakes, stripes, and confiscation, The Seal of the cove- 
nant, or the statute of exile. 

This is a brief detail of the doom which awaited dissenters from all national churches. 

The works that Mr. Benedict shows us, sanctions Col. Ingersoll’s state- 
ment in regard to those laws. Let us turn back one page and there he tells 
us of their laws to prevent dissenters. 

(Page 933.) By a law of Charles V. passed 15S5, one third of the property of all 
condemned heretics went to the informers. 

A dissenter is one who by studying the Bible, and whom God empowers 
with the Holy Ghost, sees that his teachers are teaching him wrong ; one 
who disagrees in any way with the church. 

And not only one church, but he says this doom awaited the dissenters 
from all national churches. A dissenter is one who may think he can live a 
purer life through God’s word than he is living, when he lives in obedience 
to the laws of the church. And the doom that awaited them was to confis- 
cate their propertj' to the nation to whom this church belonged, and give 
one third of the property to the one that informed the church of this heretic. 

I have not lived under such a law, though I have yielded to such a fate, 
a dear friend being the informer, though they did not burn me at the stake, 
or give me the stripes. 

Surely it was the work of the devil then, and it is the work of the devil 
still, that works against one who believes in living true religion, if you live 
it at all. 


156 


HOW ARE WE LED? 


(Page 933.) By some laws the informers had one half of all property thus acquired. 

My dear friend did not stop with one third or one half of my property. 

This friend did not stop with it all, but also took from me my compan- 
ion, taking from me that which was pledged me until death should take it 
from me ; and the death that took it from me was only separation. I had 
my choice to lay down my Bible or my all. 

(Page 933.) The famous Montezuma was a priest as icell as a king. The same may 
be said of many others. 

Mr. Benedict tells us that this famous man was a priest as well as a king. 

He was a ruler of the people that belonged to the church, as well as 
ruler of the people that belonged to his nation. He was right where Moses 
was. Moses was trying to compel his people to be religious, he was trying 
to imprint in their hearts a righteous nature. 

I say that mothers have the power to* imprint in the heart of their off- 
spring this righteous nature. Father, Christ, or God, neither have this 
power ; it is given to mothers alone. If God had this power he would stamp 
this righteous nature in the heart of every human being. If Christ had this 
power, he would do the will of the Father, and stamp all human beings. If 
fathers had this power, they would be as neglectful as the mothers. But 
mothers exclusively have the power of stamping in our nature the snow 
white birth-mark of Jesus Christ, or the stains of Cain’s birth-mark. 

I have only quoted a few words from Mr. Benedict’s book of many pages, 
but if I was to quote it all, many more books could I find just as worthy as 
this. But the doings, the creeds, and the crimes (which have been made 
lawful in the churches, and which have been upheld by the governments) 
are so well known to all that there is no need for me to repeat them. All 
that I ask is that you think how that God gave his word, and how he put it 
in the mouth of Moses to teach his word and how God put it in the mouth 
of Jesus to magnify the teachings of Moses, to make them plainer and 
brighter. And then, as Moses was a man of human frailty, and gave 
teachings that were faulty, and because his followers were also men of 
human frailty, and because they trampled upon Moses’ teachings, shall we 
curse God’s word for it ? 

And then I ask you to look at the popes, the priests, and the preachers, 
for the last 1500 years, and ask yourselves and answer your own questions : 
Has God’s word and Jesus’ teachings been trampled upon as God’s word 
and Moses’ teachings were trampled upon ? If your answer is in the affirma- 
tive, ask yourselves one more question : Shall God’s word that is found in 
the New Testament be cursed and laid aside on account of the trampling 
upon the teachings of Jesus ? My answer is, No. God’s word is pure 
wherever it is found. 

If God’s word is abolished, decayed, dead, and done away, on account 
of the trampling of the Jews, are not the teachings of Jesus much more 
abolished, decayed, and dead, by the trampling since the Jews ? As for 
teaching Christianity we accomplished but little, for we cannot change the 
disposition of man. 


benedict’s history. 


157 


If we teach mothers how they can wash the little spirits of their darling 
infants, and make them whiter than snow, and then teach them how to keep 
down the tare and the thorn whilst that little spirit is growing, then we 
accomplish more good in teaching one mother than we can in teaching one 
dozen men. We can grow into Christianity farther than we can step into it. 
How ? — Just as Mary did. By stamping this righteous nature in the mind 
of her infant, instead of branding Cain’s birth-mark there. 

Now you may ask me how we shall settle which day of the week we shall 
keep for the Sabbath ? Let me ask you one question before I answer yours. 

You want to keep Sunday because your preachers tell you that that is 
the day to keep, and you see nothing countermanding your preacher’s words. 
I have searched the Bible closely, and I want to keep Saturday because both 
the Old Testament and the New tell me that that is the daj^ to keep ; and I 
find nothing in the Bible that countermands that teaching. 

Now let me ask, Which shows the best cause for his desire in selecting 
the day that he keeps ? I want to obey the Bible, and you want to obey 
your preachers. Now I answer, How we shall settle upon the day. I have 
been called a Jew, I have been slurred in different ways because I wanted to 
be a child of God, but not as the preachers told me, but as I understand the 
Bible taught me. 

Now, if you will let me keep Saturday without slurring me, if you will 
let others (who may choose to do so) keep Saturday without slurring them, 
we will let you keep any day that you please. You keep what day you 
please, and for what cause you please, and give us the same privilege, and 
that will settle the day. 

Next, our ministers tell us there is nothing impossible with God. In this 
I must disagree with them. I think that God is purity ; Satan is feculence. 
God is love ; Satan is hatred. God is honesty ; Satan is dishonesty. And in 
fact God is all kind of righteousness, whilst Satan is right the opposite. If 
our ministers would tell us that with both God and Satan there is nothing 
impossible, I would not disagree with them. 

God never created man in his own image, then held him out of that 
image, and permitted him to be cursed for walking out of the path in which 
he was created. 

God made man in his own image, which is freedom of mind. It is im- 
possible for God to step out of the path of righteousness, and take the sinner 
by force and drag him into the path of righteousness and compel him to be 
a Christian. That would be taking him out of that freedom in which God 
created him. Satan can take the sinner by force and drag him into the path 
of righteousness and make a Christian of him, but a force-made Christian is 
a poor one. 

Next, our preachers teach us to love the Lord our God with all the 
might, mind, and strength. This was the teachings of Jesus. But it takes 
many more words to express an idea to-day than it did in the days of Jesus. 
And we conceive many more ideas from one expression to-day than the} r did 
in the days of Jesus. And our teachers ought to study all ideas conceivable. 


158 


HOW ARE WE LED? 


and teach them to those who are hard to receive the teachings of Jesus. 
For this reason I freely express my ideas. 

We often hear the remark made at some grievous place, or at some ex- 
citing meeting, “ Oh how I love Jesus ; oh how I love God ! ” Dear readers, 
that is only on the tongue. I have heard them say that and yet swear like 
a pirate. Their love is not from their heart. 

Those that love what they can see, and love it all the time, are far ahead 
of those that love what they cannot see, and love it only at an exciting 
time. Those that love to do acts of kindness, honesty, virtue, truthfulness, 
and in fact all kinds of righteousness, and love to do it, see it, and teach it 
all the time, they are the ones that love godliness. They are the ones that 
love the Lord their God with all their might, mind, and strength. Those 
are the ones that Jesus said would love their God with all their heart ; and 
love to see their neighbor prosper as well as themselves. 

If Ingersoll felt that kind of love, he could love God without leaving his 
wife or children. And if she would deprive him of that kind of love, 
when he was constantly seeking for it, it would do no harm to forsake her. 
But we should remember that there is no human being but what is possessed 
of that human frailty, and liable to stumble. And again, we should remem- 
ber that we are frail, and that our neighbor may be all right, and that we 
may be looking through frail eyes to condemn him. But we can see this 
much, when we want to do ungodly acts, if we will deny ourselves, and do 
godly acts, we are loving God. God is pure godliness in every spot, place, 
and form. 

Jesus was flesh and blood, the same as Abraham, Jocob, and Moses, and 
the flesh and blood of the present day. Christ was the pure godliness. It 
completely ruled the mind or spirit of Jesus; and the very same Christ 
(which is the Spirit of God) leads the mind of every true Christian in a less 
or greater extent ; whilst the spirit of Satan leads the mind of the sinner. 
It is not God that leads the mind of the sinner. No person can truly follow 
the teachings of Jesus without trying to love and do godliness in every spot 
or place that they may meet it, and abstaining from wickedness wherever 
he may meet it. To love God, or to love Jesus Christ, without this practice, 
availeth nothing. 


AN OPEN LETTER TO A SISTER. 

[As my sister has written me a letter asking advice in regard to a grandchild that 
is left on her hands, I have answered her publicly, thinking that other in- 
fant spirits might be washed and robed by other parents reading my answer. 
It is therefore put before them.] 

August 12 , 1895. 

Dear Sister : — 

Your letter is at hand, stating that your daughter-in-law is dead, and 
that your grandchildren are orphans. You asked my advice in regard to 
the care of those children. Shall I say what I think ? I cannot think one 
thing and write another, so let me speak my mind. 


AN OPEN LETTER TO A SISTER. 


159 


Dear sister, you have raised a family of children, and there was never a 
mother more tender, more careful, and more watchful with the flesh of her 
dear little children than yourself. You washed their little flesh to make it 
as white as snow, and when afflictions came to that dear little flesh, you flew 
to its relief, and soothed it with all the speed in your power. You robed it 
to make it the most perfect picture to the human eye that could be found in 
your neighborhood. There was never a mother more attentive to heal the 
afflictions, to wash the flesh, and to robe the form, of those dear little in- 
fants than yourself, to make them a perfect picture to the human eye. But, 
dear sister, you failed to wash that little infant spirit ; afflictions came to 
that little spirit, and you failed to heal it ; you neglected to robe that little 
spirit in white, and you failed to make it a perfect picture in the eye of 
God. 

Dear sister, it is yourself that is to blame for your son’s drinking. I 
blame no man for drinking. As a tree groweth so it must stand. It is 
hard to split straight rails out of a crooked log. It can be done by steam- 
ing, but they are not perfect after they are steamed, neither is the disposi- 
tion perfect that is straightened after it has grown crooked. It is hard to 
straighten the trunk of a tree after it has once grown ; so it is hard to 
straighten the nature of man after it has once grown. Man can straighten his 
nature, but it is like the steamed rails, lay them out in the sun and they will 
again warp. 

When boys are sowing their wild oats, then is the time to wean them 
from their drinks. If mothers have kept the thorn and the tare out of their 
little infant minds, they can keep the drink out of their youthful mouths. 
And then is the time to keep their little tree of life straight, and after it is 
grown it will not become crooked. 

Dear sister, you failed to keep the tare and the thorn out of those dear 
little spirits (those dear little gardens of Eden). You cared more to wash 
and robe the dear little flesh, than you cared to wash and robe the 
dear little spirits. But God gives you a chance for repentance. You 
say that you have repented, and are trying to do a Christian’s duty, 
and now God has given you a chance that he may try the quality of your 
repentance. He has given you another little infant spirit to heal, to wash, 
to robe, to make whiter than snow ; to make a picture that will glitter in the 
eyes of God instead of one that will glitter in the eyes of man. 

Now, dear sister, let us see which you will try to heal the most perfectly, 
to wash the cleanest, to robe the whitest, the flesh or the spirit of your dear 
little infant. Which will you try to make your little infant a picture for, 
the human eye, or the eye of God? If you make it a picture for the 
human eye, it will be only vanity ; but if you make it a picture for the eye 
of God, all human minds will take delight in it. 

Dear sister, no mother could watch and protect the flesh of her dear 
little infant son more than you did ; but you neglected to watch and protect 
his little infant spirit. You permitted his little spirit to go unwashed and un- 
robed, and to-day his spirit intoxicates his flesh and makes it ill, deludes 
his mind, and makes it weak, exposes his frailty and degrades his rank. 


ICO 


HOW ARE WE LED? 


Had you cleansed and robed bis spirit in infancy and in youth, to-day his 
spirit would cleanse and robe his flesh more perfectly and not only his own 
flesh, but that of his children also. 

Now, dear sister, weep not for the past ; it is gone ; let it go. You are 
not the only mother that has made that mistake ; weeping, cannot change 
the past ; your son is the only one that can change the rugged path in which 
he walks, and he will sometime find himself like a rail straightened by steam- 
ing. When he finds himself in the hot sun the heat will warp him. 

Dear sister, thank God that you have another little infant spirit to 
cleanse and robe. It is only a grandchild, but if it is left to your care, it 
should be just as dear to you as an own child. Try to cleanse and robe its 
little spirit ahead of its little flesh. Try to make it so that God, instead of 
man, will smile upon it. If you get it so that God will smile upon it, man 
cannot help but smile, regardless of its robe. 

In your letter you asked my advice in regard to your grandchildren, and 
the advice I give you is this : — 

Your little child is one and one-half years old ; it is old enough to obey 
your commands. Let your commands be ever so small, teach your child to 
obey them, and see that it does obey. 

Teach your child that all human beings are frail, and that you are frail, 
too ; but it must excuse your frailty, and obey your commands. Teach 
your child to obey your husband’s commands, let them be right or wrong. 
iTour husband is not perfect, for no man is perfect ; you cannot always ex- 
pect him to command your child just right. 

As no human being is perfect, you are not perfect, you may think that 
your husband’s commands are wrong when they are right. If your husband 
is wrong, and hurts the flesh of your infant a thousand times, that little 
flesh will get well. But if you interfere, and hurt that little infant spirit 
once, that little spirit will never get well ; therefore it is better that the 
flesh be hurt a thousand times than for the spirit to be hurt once. If the 
spirit is properly washed and robed, it will protect the flesh in later life. 
Teach your child to obey your commands from infancy up. Teach your 
child to obey the commands of your husband, and your son from its infancy 
up ; and by all means require your child to obey its teacher in the school 
room. 

If your child will strictly obey its parent’s commands, it will obey the 
teacher’s commands ; if your child will obey its teacher’s commands, the 
teacher will take pride in teaching that child, and that child will learn more 
than any other child in the schoolroom. And if your child will strictly obey 
its parents and teacher, in its infancy and youth, it will obey God’s com- 
mands in after years, and so shun the gallows or prison bars. Therefore, 
fear not the hurting of the flesh of your infant. 

Dear sister, let us turn to Prov. 29 : 15 and read : “The rod and reproof 
give wisdom : but a child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame.” 
Chap. 22 : 15 : “Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child ; but the rod 
of correction shall drive it far from him.” Chap. 23 : 14 : “Thou shalt 
beat him with the rod, and shalt deliver his soul from hell.” 


A PARTING WORD. 


161 


Dear sister, think not too much to wash and robe the flesh, but to wash 
and robe the spirit of that dear little infant. 

A light rod often used in infancy will prevent the need of a heavy rod in 
youth ; but, sister, never whip your child when angr}'. The mother that can 
whip her infant with a smile on her face, and love in her heart, can wash 
and robe the little spirit in white without injury to the flesh ; but the mother 
that whips her child when angry, injures both flesh and spirit. 

Dear sister, if } t ou raise your child to strictly obey the commands of 
both parents and teacher, you will have a child that will think more of you 
in old age than all the children that you now have. 

Let your son read this letter, for he is younger than you, and if he can 
see to-day wherein he can repent, and how he should raise his children, he 
will have many years the start of you, for you did not repent until after 
you had raised your children. 

I still remain your brother and friend, as ever, 

C. H. Sanders. 

Lowell , Ind. 


A PARTING WORD. 

I have just one thing more to say to my readers, and that is this : This 
work has been composed under the burden of human frailty, without the aid 
of a single friend to criticize or correct errors and mistakes. I, therefore, 
ask every reader to criticize this production as he deems best, for by so do- 
ing you will gain knowledge and understanding from your own standpoint. 



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163 




4 





HOW ARE WE LED? 




PART II. 











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1 




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CONTENTS 


My first, public prayer 


Page. 

..171 


CHAPTER XIV. 


Spiritual views. 


Our person comprised of two separate beings 


173 


CHAPTER XY. 

Wherein 1 conflict with the words of Paul, I take the words of Christ for sup- 
port. What constitutes the body of spirit, and what constitutes the body of 
matter : Then what constitutes God. Religion was undeveloped because the 
human mind was undeveloped. Lack of righteous judgment. The old name 
for good works, (righteousness); the new name (religion): The old name for 
good people, or God’s children, (Israelites) ; the new name (Christians) : The 
old name for washing away their sins, (bathing) ; the new name, (baptism) : 
The old name for written notes, (epistles) ; the new name, (letters). 180 

CHAPTER XFL 

Jesus was in his thirty-seventh year when he was crucified. Don’t believe it is 
so just because I say it is so, but read and use your own judgment 190 


CHAPTER XVII. 

Justified by faith. How to drink in of the waters of Christ. A mother’s 
love 200 


CHAPTER XVIII. 


Divine law, typical law, and civil law. The great weight in typical work 


207 


170 


CONTENTS. 


. CHAPTER XIX. 


Peace, love, and unity, in different denominations who build one church to 
worship in 216 


CHAPTER XX. 

How to love God, and how to train your children to mve God. 


.220 


CHAPTER XXI. 

When is the Holy Ghost given to man? Which has the greatest power, God or 
the devil ? Calling God a great mind, calling Satan a great mind, calling 
man a great mind, in whose image is man ? .226 


CHAPTER XXII. 


Misunderstood God. God’s chosen number so definite that it cannot be de- 
creased or increased 234 


CHAPTER XXIII. 

Justified by faith, in another book 


238 


Jesus’ testated will 


CHAPTER XXIV. 


243 


CHAPTER XXV. 

Who can say the most, or the last angry words in angry strife : The first step in 
Christianity is to see who can get through angry strife with the least angry 
words 250 


MY FIRST PUBLIC PRAYER. 


I will open this second part of my work with my first public prayer, 
which is my constant prayer. 

Heavenly Father, when we look upon this mortal body that Thou hast 
created for man to dwell in, and when we look upon the many things that 
Thou hast created to nourish and support this mortal body, we ought to 
praise God for that creation: and when we look upon the being that Thou 
hast created to dwell in this mortal body, the being that Thou hast created 
in Thine own image — a great mind, possessed of the many arts of Thy great 
mind, the being that Thou saidst was man, and should have dominion over all 
Thy creation, we ought to glorify and bless God for that creation. We 
ought to remember that if it is good to be in Thy creation at all, it is far 
better to be in the righteous path that Thou hast created for us to walk in. 

O God, may every human being learn to divide his own person as two 
separate beings combined in one: may we learn to see that this mortal body 
is naught but machinery, created to wear out and waste away. May we learn 
to see that the mind is the man that God created in his own image — is what 
dwells in this mortal body — is what guides and runs this great machinery — 
is what plots, plans, and executes all the acts and deeds of man. 

Heavenly Father, did not Thy Son say, when referring to His mortal 
body, that it was an “earthly temple,” subject to destruction? and did not 
He say, when referring to His divine being, “ Thou hast prepared a body for 
me to dwell in ” ? He said “ for me ” to dwell in. And again, when refer- 
ring to His divine being, did not He say, “I am the Lord ” ? 

0 God, help us to divide Jesus Christ as two separate beings; help us to 
see that Jesus was the “ earthly temple ” subject to destruction — the body 
of matter — the “earthly tabernacle” for “Christ” to “dwell in;” fore- 
told as such, and named Jesus before his creation. Help us to see that 
“ Christ ” was the “great man ” that dwelt in that “ earthly tabernacle, ” — 
the “man” that gave us such great divine teachings, — the main branch of 
that great ‘ ‘ tree of life. ” 

0 God, if Jesus Christ stood separate and apart from Thee — if Jesus 
Christ was a separate being from Thee, forbid that His name ever again be 
worshiped; for Thou hast said that we shall “ have no other gods before 
Thee,” that we should “worship no other God.” But, Heavenly Father, if 
“Christ” be the “main branch” of that great “tree of life” — the main 
branch of Thy great pool of water that He told us to drink so freely of, if 
Christ be a branch of Thy great mind, — Thy great Spirit, may we praise 
and glorify Him as such, and so learn to glorify and praise God, in spirit 
and in truth, for He said with his own voice, “I and the Father are one.” 
“He is in me, and I in him; ” “ I am in my Father.” 

0 God, if Christ is a branch of Thy great mind, we can truly say that 
Thou didst dwell in the body of Jesus. 

0 God, we ask all of these things in the name of Christ; not for the sake 
of Christ, for we cannot bring him down from where Thou hast put him, 
neither can we raise him above where Thou hast put him; for we cannot 

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HOW ARE WE LED ? 


change the sake of Christ. But, 0 God, we ask those things for the sake of 
those who need Christ, for the sake of those who have denied and rejected 
Christ. 0 God, we ask those things in the name of Christ, and for the sake 
of those who need Christ. 

Heavenly Father, when we learn to divide Jesus Christ as two separate 
beings, combined in one, we will learn to divide our own person as two 
separate beings. 

O God, when we learn to see that Thou art a great mind, comprised of 
many great wonders, and when we learn to see that Thou hast created us in 
Thine own image — a great mind, also comprised of many great wonders, then 
we can learn to see that, with Thee, woman’s mind is also considered the 
great man. 

O God, help us to see, that in righteousness, woman’s power is much 
greater than that of man; help us to see that woman, in her place, is superior 
to man. When we can see all of those things, we can see what i s in us that 
is the spirit, we can see what God has created in His own image — what we 
have got to wash, to cleanse, to make whiter than snow ; what we have got 
to prepare for heaven ; what is everlasting, in the image of God. 

0 God, may we learn to see that Christ was the mind of God that dwelt 
in Jesus; and may we see that those who drink in of the mind of God, have 
Christ in them, and they are the children of God; and those who drink in 
of the mind of the devil, have Satan in them, and are children of the devil. 

0 God, when we have learned to see all of those things, we have 
crushed infidelity entirely out of existence; when we learn to see those 
things, we have wiped infidelity from the face of the earth forever. The 
only question that can exist is annihilation, and that will have but little 
weight. 

Again, 0 God, I ask those things for the sake of those who need Christ. 
Amen. 

1 once asked a brother Christian, that belonged to the church that Camp- 
bell founded, that if man knew that Christianity was of no benefit to them- 
selves, -only to give praise and honor to Campbell, the founder of his church, 
if he would try to live a Christian life for Campbell’s sake? his answer was, 
no. Then I asked him if he believed that any member of the Lutheran 
church, knowing that Christianity would be of no benefit to themselves, if he 
thought any of those members would try to live a Christian life for the sake 
of Martin Luther? to give praise and honor to Luther? again his answer 
was, no. 

Then I asked him if he believed that any person would try to live a 
Christian life for the sake and honor of some one else — knowing that their 
Christianity would in no wise benefit themselves? he said that he did not be- 
lieve that any person would try to live a Christian life save for their own 
benefit, and for the benefit of their living friends. Then I said when we pray 
to God and tell God that we ask all of those things for the sake of Jesus 
Christ, we are a telling God a lie, and that God knows that we are a lying. 
This brother had not another word to say. 


CHAPTER XIY. 


Spiritual views. Our person comprised of two separate beings. 

Dear reader, my object in writing is to advance ideas whereby the people 
of this world may learn how to look at God spiritually, not as a body. Also 
to look at Christ spiritually — not bodily. To look at our fellow men, spiri- 
tually, not bodily: and to look at them with a spiritual eye, not with the 
mortal eye. And to accomplish my desire I must show the difference be- 
tween the mortal body and the divine body; wherein I believe I will be sus- 
tained by every earnest thinker. And my first evidence will be the words of 
Jesus Christ. 

John 2:19. “Jesus .... said .... destroy this temple, and in three 
days I will raise it up.” 21. “ But he spake of the temple of his body.” 

Here Jesus tells us that his body was but a temple that Christ dwelt in. 
Matt. 6:22. “ The light of the body is the eye.” Here again Jesus singles 

out the body from the soul. 10:28. “Fear not them which kill the body, 
but are not able to kill the soul.” Here Jesus plainly divides the body of 
matter, and the divine body as two separate beings. John 26: 41. “The 
spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” Here again he shows us that 
there are two separate beings, working in direct opposition to each other. 
Then Paul follows up the words of Jesus by asking, 1 Cor. 6: 19, “Know ye 
not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you? ” 

Dear reader, I ask you the very same question that Paul asked his read- 
ers. Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, if led by 
the spirit of God? And know ye not that your body is the temple of the 
devil if led by the spirit of the devil? Or in other words, know ye not that 
your body is only the dwelling place of the man, (or the woman) that pos- 
sesses it; let that man or woman be in the image of God, or in the image 
of Satan? 

Dear reader, before we go any farther, let us turn back to Jesus Christ. 
The first thing that we must learn to do, is to divide Jesus and Christ as two 
separate beings combined in one. We must learn that Jesus was the mortal 
body that God created for Christ to dwell in: and let God create it as he 
might, it was no greater miracle than the creation of the body for Adam to 
dwell in. We should learn to see that it was God that did the great miracles 
through the hands of Jesus — it was God that gave the great teachings 
through the lips of Jesus. We should learn that it was God that put Jesus, 
and Christ onto this earth as a great teacher, and it was God that put the 
words into his mouth as great teachings: Jesus himself said, “I must work 
the works of him that sent me.” John 9:4. And we ought to glorify and 
worship God for those things; don’t place Jesus ahead of God, and make a 
God of him. Don’t worship Jesus as God, but have “but one God,” “the 
only true God.” God created the mind of Jesus in perfect freedom to 
choose whom he would serve, and we ought to highly praise him for the 
choice that he made, and teach our children that we praise him for making 
that choice: but don’t go to extremes, and worship him ahead of God. 

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We should learn that Jesus was a body of matter, the same as your 
flesh and bone, is a body of matter, in the present day. When Jesus was 
crucified, if God took that body of matter (called Jesus) to another planet, 
or to his own throne to dwell, it was God that did the miracle, let us praise 
God for it. 

Christ himself taught us to give God the praise. When the one knelt to 
him and said, “good master,” he said, “why callest thou me good? there 
is none good save one, that is God.” Mark 10:18. “lean of mine own 
self do nothing .... but the will of the Father that sent me.” John 5:30. 
God commanded us to give him all praise : ‘ ‘ Thou shalt have no other gods 
before me.” Ex. 20:3. “Thou shalt worship no other God.” Ex. 34: 14. 

We must learn that our Heavenly Father has many names, and that Lord 
is one of his names. 

Now for us to understand spiritual things, and for us to see with a spiri- 
tual eye: let us divide Jesus Christ thus. 

Now I shall take the stand that the mortal body is a body of matter, and 
every part or particle of it must consist of matter, that must possess the 
properties of an impenetrable nature, that must vanish away. Then I shall 
take the stand that the spirit is a divine, or a diabolical body, completely void 
of any material properties whatever. That is, the divine spirit is the tree of 
life, found in the garden of Eden, [a spiritual garden] ; whilst the diabolical 
spirit is the tree of knowledge, or the spirit of the devil. The spirit [divine 
or diabolical] is comprised of thinking, remembering, reasoning, and per- 
ceiving, will: and is susceptible of love, hatred, joy, and grief. None of 
those things are of material substance, or subject to decay. And when the 
mind is artificially taken from the body, though the body yet breathes, and 
the pulse beats, yet the body realizes none of its natural senses. 

In a parable, Jesus called God a great pool of water, the water of life, 
and urged us diligently to drink of that water of life, and live forever. 
This was one of Jesus’s spiritual teachings. 

For a spiritual parable, I shall call God a great tree of life. 

In parable, Jesus called God the great waters of life; in parable, I shall 
call him the great tree of life. Or I shall say that God is a great mind, 
grown up straight and perfect, with a large top, of many branches; as the 
top of a great tree. I shall also call God a great Spirit, and when I speak 
of that great mind, or that great spirit, or that great water, or that great 
tree, I invariably refer to the one God. 

Now upon this foundation I shall claim the mind to comprise the spirit 
whenever and wherever it may be found. And the material substance to 
comprise the body of matter, whenever and wherever it may be found. 

The spirit is invisible to — and makes no shadow, to the material eye. 

Almost all authors claim that the beast has no spirit, yet many agree 
with me that the mind is the spirit, but they hold that the beast has no 
reasoning faculties, therefore they have no spirit. But that is above my 
judgment, I leave that with God. God said that man should have dominion 
over beast, and it is right for us to exercise that dominion. To work the 


SPIRITUAL VIEWS. 


175 


beast for our profit, is in accordance with God’s word; to kill the beast for 
to eat, or for our profit, is in accordance with God’s word; but to treat r 
beast or brute inhumanly, is contrary to the teachings of Christ, and anj 
person that will treat a bird, beast, or brute, with inhumanity, ought to be 
in company with the same, through all eternity. 

If God has created the mind of the bird or the beast, so deficient as to 
prevent its having an everlasting spirit, I am satisfied: whilst on the con- 
trary, if God has created those minds so as to make them everlasting, that 
does not decrease my mind, or spirit. Man decreases, or increases, his owe 
spirit according to their works. We carry the keys of heaven and of heli 
in our own hands. We also hold the power of increasing, or decreasing our 
own spirit in accordance to our works, whilst the beast has not that power. 
I sinned away the blooming part of my soul, and decreased my own spirit in 
so doing. Jesus Christ is the only one ever recorded that did not decrease 
his own spirit, by sinning away the blooming part of his life. 

Now if we are satisfied that the mind is the everlasting part of man, and 
that the flesh, blood, and bone comprise the body of matter, we will pro- 
ceed with the division of Jesus Christ; to find two separate beings com- 
bined in one. , 

I place God as a great tree of many branches, or a great mind of many 
volumes. When God created this world, he created all things therein: he 
created the material part of man, finished it up, and looked at it, and said 
that it was good and complete. 

Now let us look at that body, and we find it a perfect being in every form 
and feature, we find it a perfect dwelling place for one of the volumes of that 
great mind, a perfect foundation for one of the branches of that great tree ; 
yet we find it a dormant but perfect body. Then God said, Let us make 
man in our own image. Then ‘ ‘ God breathed the breath of life into that 
body, and it became a living soul ” — a living spirit , — a living mind. 

Now we find that that body of matter, was made, finished, and perfect ; 
separate and alone. Then we find that that divine body was made sepa- 
rately, and breathed into that body of matter, ‘ ‘ and man became a living 
soul.” Gen. 2 : 7. 

Now God had made a body of matter, and had put into that body of 
matter a volume of his great mind, and he called it man. And one great 
feature of God is, perfect freedom of mind, and one great feature of that 
man was perfect freedom of mind in the image of God. 

Now God saw that it was good for that man to have a helpmate, so he 
made another man as a helpmate, and he created them male and female, 
but the female soon led into woe, and is since called wo-man. 

Now as we have seen how God created the body of matter and the divine 
body separately, we will look at invention next. Let me ask a few ques- 
tions. First: Who was the first to study out invention? I do not find 
a person who is ready to answer this question. Second: What was the first 
machine ever invented? This question like the other is unanswered. Third: 
t is the greatest machine ever invented? To this question I find many 


176 


HOW ARE WE LED ? 


supposed answers; one says the steam engine; another says the galvanic 
battery, etc., each having their choice in the machine. Fourth: What are 
those machines composed of? — Braces and supports of various descriptions. 
Fifth: How are those machines propelled? — By adding power to them — 
by putting ingrediencies inside of them. Sixth: How long will that machin- 
ery propel? — Just as long as it is kept in repair and the ingrediences are 
kept inside of it. 

Now I have asked six questions, the first two are yet unanswered. May 
I answer them that you may reflect upon my answers? 

First: Who was the first to study out invention? — God. Second: What 
was the first machine ever invented? — The body of matter. Third: What 
is the greatest machine ever invented? — The body of matter that God 
invented. Fourth : What are those machines composed of? — Braces, 
bones, supports, — muscles, and their covering. Fifth: How are those 
machines propelled? — By putting ingrediencies — the spirit — inside of 
them. Sixth: How long will that machine propel? — Just as long as it is 
kept in repair, and that ingrediency — spirit — is kept inside of it. 

Now, dear reader, if my answers to those questions are correct, we will 
turn to the machinery of Jesus Christ. We find it composed of the very 
same material as all (body of matter) other machinery is composed: flesh, 
blood, bone, muscle, and their covering. All the difference between that 
and our own machinery is the propelling power put inside — the spirit — 
the mind. 

Let us now turn to the great tree of life, and we find it a great mind, of 
many branches : And we find the machinery of Jesus propelled by the main 
branch of that great tree of life, the largest branch of that great tree : and 
that branch is called Christ, one of the names of God. That branch is still 
connected with the same tree, — has never been separated from that tree. 
John 14:10. “ Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father 

in me? the words that I speak unto you I Jspeak not of myself; but the 
Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works.” Verse 11. “Believest 
me that I am in the Father and the Father in me. 10 : 38. “The Father is 
in me and I in him.” Verse 30. “I and my Father are one.” In those 
texts, Christ was a speaking of the mind, the Spirit, the branch of that great 
tree of life: not of the mortal body. 

We must learn to divide Jesus Christ as two separate beings, combined 
in one, whilst on this earth. And then we must learn to study his words, 
whether he was referring to Jesus, the mortal body, or referring to Christ, 
the divine body. 

The great mass of people in that day, and ever since that day, have 
looked at that body of matter and saw that it was not connected with any other 
body of matter, they looked at those words, mortally, not divinely; they 
thought them false because they could not see the Father, they condemned 
him to death, and crucified the mortal body thinking they were a crucifying 
the whole being 

Now, dear reader, if I am right on this great tree of many branches, if I 


SPIRITUAL VIEWS. 


177 


am right on this great mind of many volumes, if I am right on this great 
spirit of many links, let me tell you what I have done. Let me tell you 
what Jesus did. Jesus had the Scriptures before him, to read, to study 
upon, to accept or to condemn. Jesus separated the righteousness of God’s 
word from the traditions of man, all recorded in the one book, the Old 
Testament. Jesus separated out the righteousness, teaching it, and magni- 
fied those teachings greatly; but the unrighteousness he did not teach. Now 
let me ask, how did he make that separation? by heeding what the wise 
men before him, told him? No; but by using that great branch of the tree 
of life, — by using that mind that He received from God, — by leaning upon 
God’s great staff — judgment. 

Now let me ask, what was Jesus crucified for? just for using self judg- 
ment, just for leaning upon the great staff that God gave him. lie 
regarded not the unrighteous teachings that were mixed in and called 
Scriptures, but separated them as traditions of man. He taught from self 
judgment, which conflicted with no righteousness from God. 

Hear reader, I have degraded my spirit far below that of the rank of 
Christ; I have sinned away all of the blooming part of my life; I had not the 
righteous mother to give me inheritance to the birth mark of Jesus, which 
was the seed of that tree of life; I had not a righteous mother that knew 
how to paddle my little canoe across this great gulf of life, until I was old 
enough to paddle for my self. Our mothers were not taught that the 
responsibility of the child rested upon the shoulders of the mother. 
Mothers did not know how to shoulder that responsibility. My mind was 
grown from the seed of pollution — from the seed of the tree of knowledge, 
and the knowledge that I gained, was only the growth of corruption. My 
mother was taught that a soul redeemed at a late hour in life was just as 
great as one early trained. A child should have early training, and right- 
eous training : that is train them to understand the difference between right 
and wrong, but never put them into a church until they are old enough to 
choose their church, it is not the belonging to a church that takes them to 
heaven, but the way they are taught to do. 

As I said, my mind was grown into the tree of knowledge, but thank 
God I have cut off the tree of knowledge and grafted on the tree of life — 
the tree of which Christ is the main branch — the tree that brings forth the 
righteous fruits. 

The righteous fruits that Jesus Christ brought forth were from the use 
of his own judgment, regardless of the traditions of man — called Scripture. 
And the righteous fruits that I am trying to bring forth, are from the use 
of my own judgment regardless of the traditions of man, and they conflict 
with no righteous teachings found in the Scriptures. 

I divide Jesus Christ as two separate beings combined in one, this Paul 
did not do, yet I conflict with none of his righteous teachings, (righteous 
means right). 

Let us look upon the body of Jesus as a body of matter, the same as all 
other flesh and bone ; this the infidel can do and bring him down to par, with 


178 


HOW ARE WE LED ? 


out affecting the spirit in the least; what God did with that body does not 
change the value of that body to the value of a pennyweight, but only 
shows God’s power. Let us look at the spirit of Jesus as a great branch of 
the great mind of God. This is a possibility as all infidels must confess, as 
Josephus the great ancient writer did confess, when he said of Jesus, “there 
was a great man if it be lawful to call him a man.” Josephus would not 
call him Christ, yet he could not deny but what he was far superior to 
others, in mind. 

Robert Ingersoll, the greatest infidelic writer of the present day, acknowl- 
edged that Jesus was possessed of a mind far superior to common man, and 
said that he would have been “glad to have been on earth with him.” 

Now if we use the word Jesus, to distinguish that body of matter, and 
use the word Christ to distinguish that body of mind, it must wipe out all 
infidelity forever. For the greatest infidels that we have do confess Jesus to 
have been far superior in mind, to any man of their knowledge. 

This being the case, the only question now remaining is, Is the mind an 
everlasting mind? The man that denies this, only strives to put himself 
down to a level with the least of God’s creation. This does not affect the 
Christian any, for when we learn what a man’s spirit is, the infidelic class 
universally will agree that all have a spirit, thus wiping infidelity wholly out 
of existence, and as to their degrading themselves to the lowest stage of crea- 
tion, through annihilation, they find no sustenance, neither in the Scripture 
nor in righteous judgment. 

In this case, who are Christians? If we use the word Jesus to indicate 
the body of matter; and if we use the word, Christ, to indicate the being 
of mind, we do acknowledge that the word, Christ, means the great branch 
of the mind of God. If the word Christ means a branch of the mind of 
God, we must acknowledge that the word, sinner, means a branch of a 
mind, in direct opposition to God: it! must! mean! Satan; so when we say 
sinner, we essentially say, a branch of the mind of Satan — a child of 
Satan. 

Now as Christ and Christian are all in the one God, Christ being 
superior to Christian, Christ must be the superior branch, of the mind 
of God, while the Christians are of more inferior branches, of the very 
same mind of God. “In my Father’s house are many mansions, if it 
were not so I would have told you.” John 14:2. The largest and 
highest branches of this great tree, are its greatest mansions ; let us 
strive to get clear to the top, let us drink in of the largest branches 
of God’s great mind. “He shall reward every man according to his 
works.” Matt 16:27. He or she that exercises the greatest portion of 
God’s mind, sits on the greatest mansion. The greater portion of God’s 
mind that we exercise, the nearer we become equal to Jesus Christ. 

The infidel that has denied that man has a spirit, now turns and says 
that the bird, the beast, and the brute, has a spirit as well as man. Is this 
a detriment to the Christian ? If I strive to climb the great tree of life, let 
me get high or low, is it a disgrace for me to look down and see my dog or 


SPIRITUAL VIEWS. 


179 


my horse sporting under this tree. If God has created the mind of the bird 
or the beast so as to be everlasting, I leave that entirely to his judgment. 
If I have treated the bird or the beast so as to have them condemn mo, it is 
my own mind that condemns me. 

God has created us so that we must kill and eat, and even if a detriment 
to us, kill though not for to eat, but to sinfully misuse anything is ungodli- 
ness, and after we have learned how to live a Christian life, and after we have 
made a covenant with God that we will live a Christian life, if we have 
sinfully misused bird or beast so as to make it a detriment to us to see it in 
heaven, it is our own mind that condemns us: It is recorded in our own 
book. ‘ 1 And I saw the dead, small and great, .... and the books were 
opened.” Rev. 20:12. John through the spiritual eye, saw, standing 
before the great God, a number to be judged, and each one found the acts 
of his own life recorded in a book. John saw those books opened, by 
which those people were to be judged. And as he still looked “ another 
book was opened, which is the book of life: “And the dead were judged 
out of those things which were written in the books, according to their 
works.” John said the books were opened, and they were judged out of 
the things that were recorded in those books. What are those books ? 
Where are those books kept? and where are those things recorded f They 
were judged by those books; then he farther says that, ‘ 1 another book was 
opened, which was the book of life.” 

We have seen two great trees, which I have called the tree of life, and 
the tree of destruction — which I have called the spirit of God, and the 
spirit of the devil — which I have called the mind of God, and the mind of 
the devil — which I will 7iow call the book of life, and the book of destruc- 
tion: And this book of life that John saw opened, was the very same mind 
of God, where all things are recorded. 

John said the books were opened. I say yes, there has been — there is 
still — and there will be, two books opened to every person that passes over 
the river of death. In that day every person will find himself face to face 
in the presence of God. In that da} 7 you w 7 ill see the mind of God, which 
is the great book of life, where all is recorded ; and you will find recorded 
there, the holy Bible, which you have accepted, or which you have rejected. 
John said the books were opened, a number of them aside from the great 
book of life. You will find there a book for every person, where every 
deed, every act, and every wrong, will be recorded ; and every atonement 
that you have ever made with God, for those deeds, and crimes, will be 
recorded there in that book. That book will be the book of your own life, 
it will be your own mind, where everything will be recorded as you go along, 
that shall be the book that John saw, out of those things which are written 
in that book, shall ye be judged. In that book you will find your own 
redemption, or your own condemnation. 

Dear reader, if you have ever made a covenant with God, promising God 
that you will walk in the righteous path he has laid down, that covenant will 
be an atonement for all the deeds that you have ever done. That covenant 


180 


HOW ARE WE LED ? 


will wipe away all of the past, wash you, cleanse you, and take you into 
heaven; if you do not break that covenant yourself, and sin on. 

When you promise God that you will leave off your sins, and do right 
thereafter, it makes no difference what your sins have been, if you try and 
live up to that promise, you will gain heaven. 

Our mind is our book in which every act is recorded. Our covenant with 
God is our atonement for those acts, if we live up to our covenant after we 
have made i x t, it cancels all of those black records. Our teachers teach us 
that Jesus will wash us and make us whiter than snow, but this is a mistake: 
Our acts are recorded in the records of our life, just the same as a mortgage 
of our property is recorded in our county records, our atonement cancels 
those records just the same as the payment of the notes cancels the mortgage 
in the county records, they are dead against us, but still they are there to 
show that they have been atoned for. If Jesus can annihilate the evil part 
of our mind, and wash it out of existence, the good part is also subject 
to annihilation. It cannot be that a part of our mind will be annihilated 
and a part preserved forever. 

Dear reader, let us cancel our own record by making our own covenant, 
and by trying to live up to it after we have made it. 


CHAPTER XV. 

Wherein I conflict with the words of Paul, I take the word of Christ for support. 
What constitutes the body of spirit, and what constitutes the body of matter : 
then what constitutes God. Religion was undeveloped because the human 
mind was undeveloped. Lack of righteous judgment. The old name for good 
works, (righteousness); the new name (religion):' The old name for good people, 
on God’s children; (Israelites): the new name (Christians): The old name for 
washing away their sins, (bathing); the new name, (baptism): The old name 
for writing notes, (epistles) the new name, (letters). 

As I have said, Jesus drank freely of the great waters of life — partook 
freely of the fruits of the tree of life, and so became the main branch of 
that tree. Or in other words, Jesus rejected the mind of Satan, (sinfulness): 
sought earnestly after the mind of God, (righteousness) : and so became the 
main branch of God’s great mind. 

Christ being the main branch of the great tree of life, I by following his 
example shall try to become a junior branch of that same tree. 

As we see that Jesus taught righteousness, regardless of the traditional 
teachings called Scriptures, that were before him, yet he did not conflict in 
any way with the righteousness (right) found in those Scriptures. 

Now I find my words to be in conflict with the words of Paul, as found 
in his second epistle to the Corinthians. 

As I regard such remarks of his as immaterial to righteousness (that is 
to say that he does not point out any righteousness in that remark, neither 
does he conflict with righteousness, yet in expressing my views I conflict 


THE GREAT TREE OF LIFE. 


181 


with him) it is almost useless for me to say that such conflicts are harmonic 
to righteousness, yet we ought to notice them and study upon them, and I 
shall not guard against such conflicts, but shall appeal to Christ’s teachings 
for support. 

Paul was a human being, striving to climb the great tree of life, yet he 
was not perfect. He sometimes conflicted with his own writings, or the 
writings of his brother apostles, yet always striving to teach righteousness. 

We cannot expect every word of theirs to be perfect, for the human being 
is not perfect. When we expect every word of their writings to be perfect, 
we expect more than human being can do. The apostles did wrong when 
they reproved the people for bringing their children to Jesus, he corrected 
them and blessed the children. If they stepped astray when in the presence 
of Jesus, must we expect perfection of them, in his absence? 

Now I will show you wherein my words conflict with Paul’s, and I will 
apply to the words of Christ for support. I have been teaching you that 
God is a great mind, of righteousness ; and that Satan is a great mind, of 
corruption: and we are left perfectly free to choose for ourselves whether we 
be of God, or whether we be of Satan. If we choose to be of God we will 
drink freely of the spirit of God, and God will extend his hand to us to lead 
and guide us. But if we choose to be of Satan, we will drink in of the 
mind of Satan, and Satan will be our guide and our support. We are per- 
fectly free to choose of which one we will freely drink, but must drink of the 
one or the other. And the one that we choose, will go with us hand in 
hand. Paul says, ‘ ‘ Knowing that whilst we are at home in the body, we are 
absent from the Lord.” 2 Cor. 5:6. Paul says whilst the spirit is at home 
in the body it is absent from the Lord. Christ said, I am not alone, because 
the Father is with me. ” John 16:32. 8:29. “The Father hath not left 

me alone: for I do always those things that please him.” “ That ye may 
know, and believe, that the Father is in me.” 10:38. 14:11. “Believe 

me .... that the Father is in me.” Now, if God was with the spirit of 
Jesus, when Jesus was trying to do right, he is with all righteous people who 
are trying to do right. Though my teachings conflict with Paul’s writings in 
this and other similar places, but in no place do I aim to conflict with right- 
eousness. 

A few days ago I was talking with a Christian sister, I remarked that our 
mind is our spirit. If our mind is cultivated from infancy up, in righteous- 
ness, we would occupy a much greater branch in the great tree of life, than 
those who live in sin up to middle, or old age, and then graft themselves 
into this great tree. This sister called me down, by quoting Paul’s words 
found in Eph. 2:8. “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that 
not of yourselves : it is the gift of God. Not of works.” This sister said 
that I was conflicting the Bible, and I was again conflicting the words of 
Paul. She said that we must be saved “through faith,” “not of works,” 
and when I cultivated the mind, I was doing “works,” and so left no chance 
for “faith.” I could have quoted her a little Scripture to conflict Paul’s 
words here, but I would rather ask her a few questions. 


182 


HOW ARE WE LED ? 


I like to exercise judgment, and I like to cause my adversaries to use 
their judgment also, so I will give our conversation. 

Ques. What is faith? 

Ans. Belief. 

Ques. How can we know that we have faith? 

Ans. By believing. 

Ques. By doing something? 

Am. By doing nothing only believing. 

Ques. What is belief? 

Am. Belief is to think so. 

Ques. What are thoughts? 

Ans. Thoughts are ideas of the mind. 

Ques. Then faith is belief, belief is thoughts, thoughts are the mind? 

Ans. Yes. 

Ques. Then to have faith we must exercise our mind enough to think? 

Ans. Yes. 

Now, dear sister, your answers have proven that you have got to work 
your mind by thinking, before you can have one particle of faith, whilst the 
girl that has been taught from infancy up — has been thinking from infancy 
up — has been exercising her mind from infancy up, has a thousand times 
stronger faith than you have : yet her faith will not save her soul, if her 
body refuses to do the righteous works that God requires done. This sister 
said, I never looked at it that way before. 

The next was a Christian brother ; while making him a visit I remarked, 
the iniquities of the parents will rest upon their children to the third and 
fourth generations. This brother says, Ah! that is under the law, we are 
not under the law, but under grace: Again referring to Paul’s teachings. 
I asked him, Did you know that a child will inherit its mother’s disposition? 
Did you ever see a nice, clever, quiet, kind-hearted girl, and hear the remark 
made, she is just like her mother ? Did you ever see an overbearing, 
haughty, high-headed girl, and hear the remark made, ‘ ‘ her mother was 
just like her, when she was a girl ? This brother said, ‘ ‘ If you are going 
at it in that way, I will give it up.” 

Dear reader, shall I be crucified for using righteous judgment? Was 
not Jesus crucified for using righteous judgment? 

We put great strain on the matter body of Jesus, we most highly esteem 
the matter body of Jesus, we truly worship the matter body of Jesus, and 
omit using enough righteous judgment, on the divine body of Christ. 

Let us think more, think earnestly, think honestly, think justly, exercise 
righteous judgment, and so drive infidelity entirely out of existence. 

After we have learned to divide Jesus Christ as two separate beings com- 
bined in one, — after we have learned to divide ourselves as two separate 
beings combined in one, — after we have learned to look upon this mortal 
body as only temporary, — and after we have learned to look at our spiritual 
being, separate and apart from this mortal body, there can no more infidel- 


WHO WILL EE CHRISTIANS ? 


183 


ity exist. Infidelity must be driven entirely out of existence. All the ques- 
tion that can then be agitated, will be the question of annihilation. 

Then who will be Christians? It is not belonging to a church that makes 
a Christian, but it is righteous works that constitute Christianity. When 
a person becomes of a righteous mind, so that they desire to do righteous 
works, they have become a Christian. When a person has become a Christian 
so that they desire to do righteous works, they will desire to go to church 
and worship God. When a righteous Christian desires to go to church and 
worship God, that person will understand that it takes some money to carry 
on that church, and they will desire to belong to that church, to help keep it 
up and carry it on. Thej" will desire to keep up that church for the pleasure 
of their own worship, and for the benefit of their surrounders. A true 
Christian, worshiping God under such feelings, will feel just as the follow- 
ers of Jesus felt, who came out from under the Mosaic law. They will not 
care for the name of that church, — the creed of that church — or their style 
of worship. In fact they will not care, if it has no name, or creed. If they 
can live a true Christian life at home, they can worship in true Christianity, 
at any church. 

Those who worship Jesus can still worship, I can worship God in the 
same house at the same time: but those who worship Christ in the true 
sense, must worship him with me, whether in the same church with me, or 
a thousand miles from me: For I worship him as the main branch of that 
great tree, — the true and living God. 

You that worship Israel — in the true and righteous sense, must worship 
him with me, for Israel also, in truth, is one of the branches of that same 
tree — one of the names of that same God. But a sinful Jew — belonging to 
the Israelitic church, is just the same as a hypocrite belonging to any of our 
Christian churches. Israel is the old name for God — in man; and Christ 
is the very same God, in man; only a new name. 

There are two great trees, and only two. The one is God, and the other 
is the devil. And every invention that comes into this world, is an inspira- 
tion, either from God, or from the devil. 

There was never anything invented — there was never anything exe- 
cuted — there was never anything built, but what it was first formed 
in the mind. This forming in the mind, is what we call building castles 
in the air, but it is .truly an inspiration, from one of those great trees. 
If it be a righteous work, it is an inspiration from God: but if it be 
a sinful work, it is an inspiration from the devil. If it originates in 
us, it is inspired into us direct from that Great tree: If it comes to us 
through some other person, it is inspired into us through a branch of 
that great tree. 

All thoughts are inspirations, and faith is a chain of thoughts, and 
faith in God is inspired righteous thoughts from God, whether origina- 
ting in us, or whether coming to us through a branch of that great tree. 

Faith in God, gets a much larger growth in us, when coming to us 
through a branch of that tree, whilst the mind is young and rapidly growing, 


184 


HOW ARE WE LED? 


than it can get by grafting on after our tree principally has got its growth. 

Putting children into the church in infancy does not put this true faith 
into their mind, but to cultivate the thoughts and actions in earliest stage of 
growth, as a husbandman cultivates his corn in his held; gives them thi3 
faith. Keep down and root out the evilness that ought not to grow there, 
and brace up and nourish the good that ought to grow ; and for a success, 
you cannot begin too young, or cultivate too clean. 

If our Christian sister, our brethren, or our minister quotes Paul’s words, 
and says that they must be saved through faith, not by works, tell them that 
you are a growing that faith, and go a head with your cultivation. We truly 
can never gain heaven in the absence of works. The soul that cuts off 
from the tree of Satan, and grafts onto the tree of life is truly included in 
God’s circle, and is one of God’s children, but the earlier that grafting is 
done, the larger that branch will get. 

Now in searching after righteousness, and for the use of judgment, we 
will go back to the creation. Here we find that God created man in right- 
eousness. (Righteousness means right.) 

Everything that comes to the human mind, is revealed to us, — either 
direct or indirect — from one or the other of those great trees, therefore 
they are revelations — or the fruits of the tree from whence they come. 

Now among our divine revelations, we find not only declarations of the 
existence and unity of God and man, but also the nature and substance of 
God and man, which is plainly affirmed to be spiritual only. 

God is a spirit, so affirmed through all generations: the sense of the 
Scriptures in this respect cannot be disputed. Innumerable passages and 
allusions show that the term spirit, and body, are used for substances of a 
distinct kind, and which are manifested by distinct, and in many respects 
opposite and incommunicable properties. The body of spirit can only per- 
ceive, think, reason, will, and act: not decay or evaporate, nor cannot be- 
come as a fertilic substance, and is wholly invisible, and imperceptible. 
Whilst the body of matter is visible, perceivable, corruptible, and will 
become as a vegetable fertilizer. In those views, and in highest esteem, 
God is spoken of in all writing, as spirit, not as matter; as mind, not as 
body. He is a pure spirit, unconnected even with bodily form or organs ; 
an immense mind of intellect, self acting, self working, wholly above the 
perception of bodily sense, free from the imperfections of matter, and all 
infirmities of corporeal being. In all ages God has been deemed a great 
Spirit, which proves to be a great mind: even the atheist can substitute 
nothing else. 

At the creation God created all things right, and lastly he created man in 
his own image • — a great mind, right, though not developed; and from that 
day to the present time, man has been gradually developing. 

As I said, God created man right, — that is he created man in a right- 
eous path. The mind of Adam and of Eve were both man, and created 
righteously. But, for lack of using righteous judgment, they soon stepped 
out of that righteous path. 


RIGHTEOUS JUDGMENT. 


185 


Grod created religion, when he created Adam and Eve. It was then un. 
developed, because the mind that was a working under its influence, was un- 
developed. All that that mind was capable of receiving was enjoyment and 
happiness, then called the garden of Eden. As the human mind began to 
develop, religion had to develop, and later on was called righteousness; in 
reality it was a branch of that great tree of life — the mind of God; and all 
that drank in of that mind of God was called righteous. We can trace it 
down by that name until Paul took the lead in preaching. 

Paul traveled through Asia, preaching, for seventeen years. At his first 
sermon at Antioch he called this righteousness by a new name, religion : but 
it is the very same thing, taken from the very same tree of life, the old kind 
of religion. 

We will now go back, and look a little at the use of righteous judgment. 

At the creation, God created Adam and Eve in righteousness — called 
the garden of Eden: but for the lack of the use of righteous judgment, they 
stepped out of that righteous path, and were rebuked by God. As the people 
became so corrupt, God determined to destroy them with a flood, but Noah 
using good judgment, God considered him in that good path that Adam and 
Eve had stepped out of, he gives it a new name — calling it righteousness: 
and because Noah had used good judgment by walking in that path of right- 
eousness, he was preserved through that great flood. As man’s mind had 
greatly developed, religion must greatly develop, and from the little seed 
that was sown in the garden of Eden, it had now grown to the path called 
righteousness. We come on down to Jacob, finding man’s mind still devel- 
oping, religion also must stretch out; and Jacob using good judgment in do- 
ing God’s will, God called him religious: giving it a new name, Israel. We 
come on down to Moses, we find man’s mind still developing, and more need 
for religion: We find Moses another to use good judgment, (now far enough 
advanced to be called righteous judgment). Moses was a righteous man, the 
same as those before him, because they used righteous judgment. Moses 
was placed at the head of the people that were the most inclined to walk in 
God’s righteous path — using righteous judgment: So he took them out by 
themselves and began to teach them religion. 

By this time religion had grown to such an extent that it now bore two 
names, Righteousness, and Israeliticism. Religion followed down under 
those two names, and passed out into other nations, under the name of 
righteousness ; once we find a king that became religious, and his subjects, 
instead of saying he had become righteous, they said ‘ ‘ our king has become 
a Jew,” though he stayed in his own country. 

But Moses’s people got so corrupt that the name Israel died out, but the 
name righteous continued on down to the days of Paul. 

Now we find that man’s mind had very largely developed, it becomes 
necessary for religion also to develop largely. Now we find a man (Jesus) 
that was capable of using the greatest righteous judgment that has ever been 
used. We will now drop those religious names until we come to Paul’s 
travels in Asia, w'e will now go back to Moses to examine the Scriptures. 


186 


HOW ARE WE LED ? 


Here we find the people divided into two classes, the righteous and the 
unrighteous, then called the Pharisees and the Sadducees: we would call 
them, the religious, and the infidel. 

It was found a hard matter to make the Sadducees — through faith, or 
righteous teachings, — do as they ought to do; so Moses’s father-in-law 
advised Moses to make a national law, by which to govern his people. This 
Moses did, but there he made two mistakes ; first, he compelled the Sadducees 
to pretend that they were righteous people, when they were really infidels. 
Second, he recorded his national laws in the same books with God’s 
divine laws. 

(Constantine made those same mistakes three hundred and sixty-six 
years after Jesus gave his teachings.) 

But as Moses used great judgment in teaching righteousness, and as he 
wrote it down, that made it Scripture, and there we find our first righteous 
Scripture. 

As we follow this Xsraelitic church, (or Jewish nation as we now call 
them) down, down, down, we constantly find them a growing ia wisdom: 
And we find the Scriptures in their hands, as you might almost say, daily. 
Every now and then we find a righteous man springs up, and expresses his 
righteous judgment, regardless of the Scriptures that he holds in his hands 
■ — as you might say constantly. And his expressions are added to — and 
so called, righteous Scripture — prophecies. 

As we have noticed the righteous men — prophets, that sprang up in the 
Jewish nation, we will now go outside of the Jewish nation, into the land 
of the east: our ministers tell us that religion was given to the Jews, and to 
the Jews alone: but we find in the land of the east — in the land of Uz, one 
called Job. His righteous teachings were, to be submissive to the will of 
God, and patient with the lot that befalls us. He excelled all of the 
righteous men of the east, that gathered around him — in righteous judg- 
ment. And his righteous teachings are taken in with those of the Jews, 
and called Scriptures, also. 

Now as we pass down the Jewish valley, we find intellect constantly a 
growing, and we find righteous teachings gradually advancing by some one 
expressing righteous judgment. 

We pass on down this Jewish valley to a period about four hundred years 
before Julius Caesar’s change of time called Anno Domini. During this 
four hundred years, we find no advance in righteous teachings, — in the 
Jewish Scriptures. But we pass out of the Jewish nation, for a period of 
time from seven hundred b. c. to two hundred years b. c. And there we 
find righteous men using their righteous judgment, and recording their 
righteous teachings in the books of the Apocrypha. Those books are not 
included in our Bible, they were found outside of the Jewish nation, in the 
land of the east, where Job lived. 

Now we pass on down to the birth of Jesus, and again we go over to the 
land of the east, and there we find more righteous people who are anticipa- 
ting, waiting, and a watching for the coming of Christ — as prophesied. And 


USE RIGHTEOUS JUDGMENT. 


187 


when Jesus was born “there came wise men from the east” and “the star 
which they saw in the east, went before them,” and when “they saw the 
young child” they “fell down and worshiped him.” After the instructions 
1 1 the king, they used righteous judgment in obeying their dream; they were 
from the east, and the king had no power to punish them for disobeying his 
word: all that he could do was to slay the young children that he had 
power over. 

Now w r e pass on down to the teachings of Jesus: Here we find him with 
the Scriptures in his hands, and the greatest thing that he was a doing, was, 
he was a using his own judgment, regardless of the Scriptures that were 
before him. 

Intellect had been gradually growing, whilst for the past four hundred 
years, righteousness had been fading away, for lack of use of righteous 
judgment. Jesus divided those Scriptures, as the righteous word of God, 
and the traditions of man: by use of his own judgment he greatly magni- 
fied the righteous teachings of those Scriptures, and rebuked them for 
following after their traditions. 

Then we pass on a little farther, and we find the records of Jesus 
written down, then called the decrees. And we find Paul ready to travel 
through Asia to teach the Scriptures, and deliver those decrees. We fin d 
God’s children came down from Jacob’s time under the name of Israelites, 
their good works under the name of righteousness, and the washing of their 
flesh and garments under the name of bathing. Now we find this washing 
of the flesh and garments, as we practise to-day, receives a new name, bap- 
tism : Then we come to Paul’s first sermon at Antioch, and we find God’s 
children also receive a new name, Christian: Then Paul is arrested and 
taken before Agrippa for trial, and here we find that the good works of 
God’s children, also received a new name, religion. 

Now we lay those new names aside, and follow Paul through Asia, as he 
is a teaching the Scriptures and a delivering those decrees, for seventeen 
years. 

We remember those writings were called decrees, they were probably the 
four first books of the New Testament, written by the assembly of the apos- 
tles: Webster would not support me in this supposition, but they were 
decrees, not epistles. 

After Paul had finished his travel in Asia, he settled down, and began 
to -write to the different churches, under the old name, epistles : Such wri- 
tings now under the new name, are called letters: We will remember that 
Paul’s writings were letters, not decrees. But the main thing to look at 
in all of Paul’s writings is the use of righteous judgment. His conflicts 
with previous writings only show that he was a man of human frailty, 
while his righteous judgment shows that he was a striving to do God’s will. 

Now we have found many men writing Scripture, and at many different 
dates, and we find each writer using their own judgment. 

You say that every word of the Bible is an inspiration, I say yes, and 
what is written is not a patch of what was inspired. I say that every 


188 


HOW ARE WE LED ? 


thought that enters into man, is an inspiration: either from God, or from 
the devil: either direct, or indirect. Every thought is the fruits of one 
great tree or the other. 

When we look at those Scriptures, and when we look at the growth of 
intellect, we see that each writer conflicted with those that had written 
before him. In looking at the teachings of Jesus Christ we see that he 
greatly conflicted with those Scriptures that were before him: And we 
believe that he used the most righteous judgment that was used among 
all the righteous men. And we see that Paul’s writings conflict with 
those who had written before him, and in places he conflicts with his 
own words: though he was only writing letters, yet he intended them for 
righteous letters. Then my readers tell me that I conflict with the Scrip- 
tures, may I ask, is it anything strange that a man of my standing should 
conflict with the most righteous writers that were ever on the face of the 
earth? 

I say that Christ is on earth again, I say that Christ or Satan is 
a dwelling in your body to-day, and I say that Christ stands ready to come 
on earth in as full power as he was in the body of Jesus, if we will 
strive to prepare a suitable body for him; I say that the very same 
God that talked through the mouth of Jesus, is now telling me that the 
time has come that every person should learn to lean upon God’s support, 
lean upon the staff that God has given you, your own judgment. Learn 
to grow your own mind. 

I have told you that every person’s mind is a branch of one, or of the 
other, of those great trees. I have told you that your own mind is the book 
in which every transaction that you do, is recorded. I have told you that 
your own covenant will atone for all your evil doings, if you keep it bright 
after you have made it, and that it will be recorded in that same book — 
book of your own mind. Then I have told you that all of those things will 
be recorded in the great mind of God, together with the teachings of the 
Bible, that you have rejected or accepted. And the book of God will be 
opened to you, to show you that those teachings have been given you : but 
out of your own book must come your own judgment. 

Now dear reader I must tell you, that in your own mind you know what 
is right and what is wrong, in your own mind you know when you are a doing 
wrong to man, woman, child, beast, brute, bird, or bug: you know when you 
are cruel or wrong to any of those things. There is times that we all have 
to use compulsion, but if we use it without anger, when it is of necessity, it 
is not cruelty. 

Now I tell you that you must use your own judgment, you must judge 
for yourselves whether you are a doing wrong or not; there is nothing in 
Christian life that is better than exercitation of self judgment: For your 
own mind must use that self judgment when it comes before the great God: 
Then, if higher cultivated on this earth, will stand higher in the presence 
of God. 

Now I am a going to say, that, since the apostles closed their writings, 


USE RIGHTEOUS JUDGMENT. 


189 


we have been held perfectly still : We have been held down by a few who 
would try to show themselves equal or a little better than the apostles them- 
selves. Held down by a few who would compel us to depend upon their 
judgment, who would burn us at the stake if we would advance any right- 
eousness through our own judgment. 

For the last eighteen hundred years, intellect has been gradually a grow- 
ing, but righteous teachings have been held as nearly at one point as pos- 
sible, for fear of a little conflict that would cause us to burn at the stake. 
But I stand ready to burn, if I have offended God, crucify me. If I have 
conflicted righteousness cast me into the lions’ den, but if I have given you 
good advice, use your own judgment. 

Now let us turn to the conflicts of the Scriptures: I will ask you dear 
reader to study the Scriptures : And we will take the ten commandments for 
a foundation: The ten commandments are a base for all righteousness: Then 
we will look through life, both in front and in the rear, then we will make 
up in our own mind, what is right and what is wrong in Christian life, what 
is right and what is wrong for a Christian to do, — what is righteousness and 
what is unrighteousness ; then we will look for conflicts in righteousness. 

We will examine the teachings of Moses, we find that lie compelled his 
people to live a religious life, that compulsion was under civil law, we call it 
Scripture, but it is not Scripture. 

After Moses had compelled his people to — or at least, tried to compel 
them to live in accordance with the ten commandments, he taught them to 
believe that they were the children of God, This was an err in Moses, and it 
was wrong, for no person is a child of God, who follows after evil, except 
when they are compelled to do right. For Moses to teach those whom he 
had to compel to do right, that they were children of God, was wrong; it 
was not right, for no wrong can be right: no wrong can be righteous, there- 
fore it cannot be righteous Scripture. In the Bible we have the records of 
wrong doings, of men who claimed to be righteous men, but they are not 
righteous (doings) Scriptures ; for no wrong teachings can be righteous Scrip- 
tures. Constantine compelled all of his subjects to be church-members, and 
then he taught them that they were Christians: This was an err, it was a 
wrong teaching, and wrong teachings can’t be righteousness. It is the duty 
of every person to search the Bible closely, place the things that are right 
as righteous Scripture, and the things that are wrong as unrighteousness, re- 
gardless of who the writer was. But as for Moses, all of his righteous 
teachings were based on the ten commandments, and among all of the conflicts 
of Jesus, we cannot find one place where he conflicts with the righteous 
teachings of Moses. Paul’s argument on circumcision, and his circumcising 
Timothy, was an err, it was not righteous teachings, but among Paul’s right- 
eous teachings, in no place did he conflict with the righteous teachings that 
were before him. 

Now we find things recorded in the Bible that are immaterial to right- 
eousness : that is, we can live a righteous life with them, or we can live a 
righteous life entirely without them, and for that reason I do not guard 


190 


IIOW ARE WE LED ? 


against them, therefore I ask every reader to look at my writings with pure 
righteous judgment, and see if I conflict in the least with the Scriptures, 
wherein they touch things that are essential for us to do, to gain heaven. 

Whilst we are a looking at confliction, I will call your attention to a few 
of John’s words, to show you that when we find a person that is a trying to 
do God’s will, we must not look for perfection, as long as human frailty 
reigns upon the face of the earth. 

Phil. 1:21. ‘ ‘ To die is gain.” 23. “For I . . . . desire to depart, 

and to be with Christ; which is far better.” Luke 16:22. “The beggar 
died, and was carried by angels into Abraham’s bosom.” Mark 16:19. 
“ He was received up into heaven.” Luke 24:51. “He was parted from 
them, and carried up into heaven.” Now it appears that Jesus was in 
heaven, and Paul said he desired to die and go to heaven also, but John said, 
“But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were fin- 
ished, this is the first resurrection.” Rev. 20:5. Here John’s words con. 
flict with those that were written before his, in regard to when we are 
restored — or resurrected to God: But he is not a speaking of right or 
wrong, he does not touch righteousness in the least, of what weight has 
such conflicts? To-day if any one advances a new idea, the Scriptures are 
searched for conflicts whereby we may be condemned; if they would search 
righteous judgment, it would be far better. Those conflicting words do not 
touch righteousness in the least, they do not touch one point wherein we do 
right or wrong; to gain, or to lose heaven. Let us not search for such con- 
flicts but use righteous judgment. 

Now dear reader remember that your acts are recorded in your own mind 
the same as in the mind of God, and you will find that it will be your own 
mind that will condemn you or atone for you, therefore I advise you to im- 
prove your mind by constantly using your own judgment. 


CHAPTER XYI. 

USE RIGHTEOUS JUDGMENT, CONTINUED. 

Jesus was in his thirty-seventh year when he was crucified. Don’t believe it is so 
just because I say it is so, but read and use your own judgment. 

I must say, in regard to conflicts, that, when my accusers come to study 
my works they cannot point out one word where I conflict with righteous- 
ness. But when disquisition comes, I have to use the words of Jesus, “ye 
have omitted the weighter matters of the law.” 

I met a lady that had read the first part of my book, where I had said 
that Jesus was in his thirty-seventh year when he was crucified. She said 
that she had asked different preachers, and different brethren, and all told 
her that Jesus was only thirty- three years old when he was crucified. 1 
asked her to get her Bible, a pencil, and a piece of paper. She brought 
forth a large nice Bible, and I turned to the first chapter of Matthew, and 


USE RIGHTEOUS JUDGMENT, CONTINUED. 


191 


in the margin aside the twenty-fifth verse, we found a date there showing 
that Jesus was born in the fifth year before Julius Caesar changed the length 
of the year, for which Caesar received great Domini, (honor). From that day 
to this we note that honor, not knowing why we do so. At that time, the 
word (Anno) meant twelve months, to-day when we speak of twelve months, 
we say (year), so Anno means year, and Domini means honor. 

At that time the year consisted of twelve moons regardless of the number 
of days, and a leap year consisted of thirteen moons. Caesar changed the 
length of the Anno (year) to three hundred and sixty-five days regardless 
of the moons. They considered this an honor to Caesar, and they called the 
first year the year one of honor. Jesus was born five years before this honor, 
marked b. c. (Before the Change.) 

But as this lady and I searched the records we found Jesus was born 
in the fifth year before this common account called Anno Domini. Matt. 
1 : 18. “Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise,” 25. “She 
brought forth her first born son, and he called his name Jesus.” Matthew 
says no more about his birth, neither of the shepherds finding him in the 
manger, or of his circumcision eight days later, on the first day of the fourth 
year; but Matthew passed on a few days into the fourth year — to the day 
that they took him “to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord.” 

This was when the wise men came from the east — guided by the star — 
to worship Jesus. Compare Luke 2 : 22 with this, and we find that Jesus 
must have been three or four weeks old; as it had passed into the fourth 
year, before the change of time. Luke 2:22. “ And when the days of 

her purification according to the law of Moses were accomplished, they 
brought him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord.” The next record 
we found was in the margin opposite the forty-second verse, that date was 
in the year eight after the change, called Anno Domini. ‘ ‘ When he was 
twelve years old.” Luke 2 : 42. 

Some Bibles omit all of those records in the margin, others have the 
most of them but omit this one in the year eight A. d. but this date is found 
in some of them. Luke 2:42. “And when he was twelve years old, they 
went up to Jerusalem after the manner of the feast.” This feast must have 
been after Christmas, for he was twelve years old on Christmas day, in the 
year eight a. d. 

The records in the margin show that the first twenty verses of Luke sec- 
ond chapter, were recorded in the year five b. c. The Bibles that are the 
most accurate in their records, change from the year five to the year four, at 
the close of the twentieth verse. 

Webster’s dictionary tells us that b. c. means before Christ, but this is a 
mistake in Webster. I ask you to use righteous judgment; could Jesus 
Christ have been born five years before Christ? again I ask, could not Jesus 
Christ have been born five years before Caesar’s change of time, Before Change. 
I say b. c. means Before Change. But in the year five b. c. (we believe on 
Christmas day) Jesus was born. “And there were .... shepherds . . . . 
and the angels said unto them, fear not: for behold I bring you good tidings 


192 


IIOW ARE WE LED ? 


of great joy .... for unto you is born .... a saviour, which is Christ the 
Lord.” Luke 2:8, 10, 11. Believing that Jesus was born on Christmas 
day (the Jewish way of counting) he was eight days old on new year day, 
and at the 21 verse the records changed to the year four b. c. 2: 21. ‘ ‘ And 
when eight days were accomplished for the circumcising of the child, his 
name was called Jesus.” Then w 7 e went on to the third chapter of Luke, 
and the twenty-third verse. We found this recorded in the year twenty-six 

a. d. “ And Jesus himself began to be about thirty years of age.” 

Bear reader, can your Sunday-school teacher ever again read the seconv 
chapter of Luke, and examine the records in the margin, and tell you that 

b. c. means before Christ. If they do, you must use righteous judgment. 

Then w r e went back to examine the records, and find the age of Jesus: as 
he was born on Christmas day, in the year five b. c. in the year four b. c. 
he was one year old: in the year three b. c. he was two years old: in the 
year tw r o b. c. he was three years old: in the year one b. c. he was four 
years old. Now we find two years together that are numbered one: the 
first is the year one before the change, the second is the year one after the 
change, marked A. d. Now as Jegus was four years old on Christmas day, 
in the year one b. c. he w r as five years old on Christmas day in the year 
one a. d. Now we remember that a. d. stands for Anno Domini; it does 
not stand for Christian era, or for any thing concerning Christ, but for honoi 
of Caesar. 

Now we will go on with the records, comparing them with the age of 
Jesus. We saw that Jesus was five years old on Christmas day in the year 
one a. d. In the year two A. d. he was six years old, in the year three, a. d 
on Christmas day, he was seven years old ; in the year thirty-three on Christ- 
mas day, he would have been thirty-seven years old. In the year four, a. d. 
he was eight years old: in the year five; a. d. he was nine years old: in th > 
year six, he ras ten years old; in the year twenty-six he “began to be 
thirty years oxd,” in the year seven, a. d. he was eleven years old: And in 
the year eight, a. d. the Bible says that he was twelve years old. Then 
Luke 3 :21, tells us that “it came to pass that Jesus also was baptized. 
23. And Jesus himself began to be about thirty years old.” 

Jesus must have been baptized about New-year’s day, for he began to be 
thirty-years old on Christmas day in the year twenty-six. The records in 
the margin of Matthew and Mark, says that Jesus was baptized in the year 
twenty-six: if he was baptized between Christmas and New-year’s da}^ he 
began to be thirty years old about that time. The records in the margin 0 f 
Luke says, he was baptized in the year twenty-seven; if he was baptized on, 
or a few days after New-year’s day, this record would be correct as he began 
to be thirty years old a week before. So we presume that he was baptized 
about New year’s day at the close of twenty-six and the beginning of twenty- 
seven. 

After I and this lady had run those records through, and she had written 
them down, she said that she would take it before her Sunday-school class 
the next Sunday. Then the question came up: what does this amount to, i» 


tJSE RIGHTEOUS JUDGMENT, CONTINUED. 193 

Christianity? What is the use of agitating this question? Wherein does tho 
age of Jesus affect righteousness. Dear reader we can ask the very same 
thing about every question that our different churches are a quarreling over, 
you may take any point that you can find two churches striving over, ask 
3^ourself, wherein does it affect righteousness, use your own righteous judg- 
ment, and make your own answer. They leave the weightier part of right- 
eousness, and quarrel over parables, or lighter matters. 

I will tell you what difference it makes with me; I cannot see wherein 
the age of Jesus affects righteousness in the least, but when I give you 
a thing that deviates with your former teachings, I am ready to give 
you proof that righteous judgment cannot dispute. And again I show 
you that I study, using my own judgment, not believing a thing to 
be so just because some one else says it is so. I study the Bible, 
using, and expressing my own judgment; then X ask every reader to read 
slowly, stop often, think seriously, and use your own judgment; don’t 
believe it is so just because some one says it is so. 

Many different questions are asked me in regard to righteousness, and 
often the questioner will hand me a book to study, and all that I can 
do, is to show their ideas to my readers, and ask you if they are not 
as far from righteousness as I am. 

I now have a little tract entitled “Can We Know.” This is a great 
question but the writer is a trying to teach Christianity : They hand me 
nothing but what they call righteous teachings, though many do not really 
understand the true meaning of the word righteous: righteous means right 
not wrong. 

But this little book asks another question on the first page. 

Qaes. 11 Is not the Holy Bible a revelation from God? certainly. Bui 
if any part of it is not to be understood , that part cannot be a revelation . ” 

The name of the author of this little tract is not given. He asks and 
answers this question, and I congratulate him for his remark. The lan- 
guage and judgment of the people were not ripened, in the days that the 
New Testament was written, and for God to inspire ripened Scripture through 
unripened language, knowledge, and judgment, would be useless. And as 
our knowledge and understanding is — to-day — far in advance of theirs — 
in th^r day, — our Scriptures ought also to advance: Not by changing the 
evidence that was given us of the apostles of that day, but by the inspira- 
tions that we receive in the present day, which is righteous judgment. 

He asked two questions; first, “Can we know?” second, “Is not the 
Holy Bible a revelation from God ? ” 

Let me ask a question, then I will answer his. As our knowledge, lan- 
guage, power of understanding, and judgment, are far in advance of that of 
the Bible times people, shall we be held strictly to their writings as perfect 
Scriptures ? 

Answer to his question : the righteous Scriptures found in the ‘ ‘ Holy 
Bible” are “revelations” from God : By inspirations through the judgment 
of his righteous children : Whilst the introduction of bigamy, and other 

13 


194 


HOW ARE WE LED ? 


unrighteousness found in the “Holy Bible’" are “revelations’" from the 
devil, through the judgment of his children. 

James 1:5. “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask God, that giveth 
to all men liberally. . . . and it shall be given him.” 

Dear reader, every thought that enters the human breast, is a “ revelation 
from God ” or from tho devil, either direct or indirect. 

I was a sinner — a branch of the great tree of destruction — a child of 
the devil. I was ignorant in worldly affairs, and stood below par in popu- 
larity. I went to God in prayer, and I sought him anxiously, I asked him 
earnestly, and I promised him faithfully. What did I ask God for? “If 
any of you lack wisdom, let him ask God, and it shall be given.” I asked 
God for wisdom and understanding. What did I get ? Instead of the 
devil’s revelations, I got revelations from God ; through inspirations. I 
lived in this world for more than fifty years, and those things never entered 
my mind, until I asked God for wisdom, knowledge, and understanding. 
And then God put into me a branch of the great tree of life — of which 
Christ was a part of. When he put into me the branch of the tree of his 
mind, he inspired into me, as he inspired into the apostles : And from that 
day, his words have grown in me. 

What did I promise God ? I promised God, truly, and earnestly, that I 
would become his servant, that I would do his will in trying to diffuse, all 
that he gave me. And to-day I am a trying to show to every individual, 
how that they can be inspired with a branch of that very same tree of life, 
which is the tree of Christ. — or waters of Christ, as you may call it. To- 
day I stand ready to testify that God has given me wisdom and understand- 
ing since I have asked him for it. 

And to-day I stand ready to testify that I sought God, I knocked at his 
gate, I asked for his hand, and I promised to him, and I tried to improve 
my own nature. To-day I stand ready to testify that I tried to do works, as 
well as to have faith, and then God was readj r to help me. And to-day I 
stand ready to say that the world is deceived, by some one teaching them 
that they have nothing to do but to have faith in Jesus and his covenant, 
and that he does all the rest. 

God has made us perfectly free to choose for ourselves whom we will 
serve, him or the devil ; and if we serve the devil we voluntarily do his 
work, and if we serve God we must voluntarily do his work. Jesus will not 
do it all, We have got to promise God that we will do our part, this prom- 
ise is our covenant, and we will find that it takes works to keep that cove- 
nant bright. 

I will now open a book, entitled ‘ £ Notes on the Book of Exodus. ” 

Page 116. Many of the children of God are very far from knowing 
the full residt, as regards themselves , of the death and resurrection of 
Christ. 

Allow me to say that Christ never died. Christ was the divine being 
that dwelt in Jesus — the body of matter. 

Death is nothing but separation. The Jews tried to compel this divine 


USE RIGHTEOUS JUDGMENT, CONTINUED. 


195 


man to separate himself from the divine righteousness of God — the Father : 
and so enter into first death. Christ refused to make that separation, and for 
that reason they began to punish the mortal body — Jesus. They tortured, 
tormented, and crucified that mortal body — Jesus, the temple that Christ 
dwelt in, but Christ stood firm to his covenant. Christ never died — never 
separated from God’s righteousness. Christ stands to-day the main branch 
of that great tree of life. But this writer says, 

Many of the children of God are very far from knowing the full residt, 
as regards themselves , of the death and resurrection of Christ. They do not 
apprehend the precious truth , that the death of Christ has made an end of 
their sins forever , and that they are the happy partakers of his resurrection 
life , with which sin can have nothing whatever to do. 

In a parable, Jesus said, “Thou fool, this night shall thy soul be re- 
quired of thee.” 

Dear reader, as we look at his remarks, we must conclude one of two 
things : we must conclude that there are no children of God — or at least 
they are so few that it is hard to find them, or we must conclude that we can 
do unrighteous acts, and those acts be no sin, if committed by a child of God. 

Any act that is right, is righteous : and any act that is wrong, is unright- 
eous : and any unrighteous act is a sin, regardless of who commits it : but 
we can atone for any sin that we commit, (if, when we see what we have 
done, and how that we were led into it) by promising God that we will try to 
avoid that sin thereafter. Remember that that promise is an atonement for 
that sin if we try to keep that promise good, but if we make that promise 
then care no more for it, it is no atonement. If the mind of Christ is in 
you, that Christ will make that atonement for you, but if you have the mind 
of the devil in you, Christ, Jesus, crucifixion, resurrection, confession, 
faith, and all, are of none avail. Remember, it takes works on your part, 
to keep that Christ in you, but whilst that Christ (mind) is in you, that 
Christ will atone for you. 

Pages 19, 20. Faith alone , could recognize .... the heirs of salvation, 
and object of Heaven's peculiar interest and favor. 

“ Faith alone. ” Dear reader, if ten thousand different kinds of Bibles 
would tell us that “faith alone” did all, righteous judgment would sway 
over them. But to the contrary, the Bible tells us, that ‘ ‘ the dead were 
judged out of those things which were written in the books, ' according to 
their works.” The Bible teaches us that we are judged according to our 
works. 

He tells us, on page 21. 

This section of our book abounds in the weightiest principles of divine 
truth — principles which range themselves under the three following heads, 
namely , the power of Satan, the power of God, and the power of faith. 

He tells of three great powers, the power of faith alone, he places next 
to the power of God : And the power of Satan he places in front of the power 
of God. I believe through the lack of righteous judgment, the power of 
Satan sways here. 


196 


kOW ARE WE LED ? 


Page 213. As, in matter of life, it is Christ alone: so in the matter of 
living it must he Christ alone . 

If Christ is our mind, all responsibility rests upon Christ, but if Christ is 
a man of flesh and bone, that was on earth nineteen hundred years ago, not 
one hair’s weight rests upon him. 

As we cannot mingle anything with that which imparts life ; so neither 
can we mingle anything with that which sustains it. 

He tells us that God created us, places us on this earth in spiritual death, 
— that we of our own power “cannot mingle anything with that that im- 
parts life,” God does that himself, and then sits upon his throne and 
rejoices, whilst he punishes us for being in that spiritual death. Can any 
person with a reasonable judgment believe such teachings ? he further tells 
us, that we can “neither mingle anything with that which sustains life.” 
This is just as unreasonable. 

Page 256. God never intended that the Gentiles should have the word 
of the Lord. 

When God gave his word, his children in reality were Israelites, later on 
they of themselves substituted the name of Jews, the Sadducees — or 
hypocrites also took the same name. At that time the children of the devil 
were in reality called Gentiles, later on they took the name of sinner, and 
many other names. The devil’s children could not live up to God’s word in 
trueness of heart and still be the devil’s child, he would truly be a child of 
God whether he openly took on the name or not. Job was called a Gentile, 
in the land of Uz, his righteous friends around him were called Gentiles, the 
wise men from the East that came to see Jesus when a babe, were called 
Gentiles, the wise men found in the books of the Apocrypha, for near five 
hundred years, were called Gentiles. When they became children of God, in 
reality they were Israelites, but they did not understand to take on God’s 
name, as we understand at the present time. Only once when one of their 
kings became righteous, though he did not leave his throne to go among 
the Jews, yet his subjects said, “our king has become a Jew.” 

Page 305. Christ judges sin , hut he saves the sinner . Faith sees sin 

reduced to ashes at the hrazen altar ; it sees all uncleanness washed away. 

Dear reader, faith does all of this with the past sins, providing : — providing 
what ? providing that you make your covenant with God that you will do 
better in the future, and providing that you try to live up to your covenant : 
Do a little better to-morrow than you have done to-day, and still a little bet- 
ter the next day, and so on. Dear reader faith wipes away your past sins, 
but it takes works to keep out the coming sins. Constantly praying to God 
to help you to do away with your desire for sin ; do not pray to God to do 
away with your desire, but pray to him to help you to do away with it. 

If you ever gain heaven you will find that it takes both faith and works. 

If you join a church — go to church every week — do the good things 
that are in the eyes of the public, yet when at home constantly angry and 
disagreeable, jawing or swearing, and in fact making yourself as well as 
those around you — unhappy, you will never gain heaven. 


USE RIGHTEOUS JUDGMENT, CONTINUED. 


197 


If you pray one hour, and are angry the next, and pass through life 
that way, you cannot expect to gain heaven. 

If you try to overcome all errors and wrongs at home, without anger, you 
will gain heaven whether a church-member or not. If you try to keep your 
words, and actions, mild and pleasant at home, in every day life, you are on 
the right road to heaven, whether a church-member or not. By all means 
join a church, it is a pleasant enjoying place of sociability, it educates and 
grows your own spirit, as well as that of those around you : yet you can go 
to heaven without joining a church. 

In early days the Jews were the only assembled church that there was ; 
though they did not bear that name, that was a new name given in Paul’s 
time, when everything else received a new name, yet the Jews were assem- 
bled together, and had a house to worship in, so they were all the church 
known of : And we remember that Job did not belong to that church, he was 
in the land of Uz, yet God said “my servant Job, there is none like him.” 
Dear reader, Job tried to live a righteous life at home, he tried to make the 
mind of those around him happy, as well as himself : He would not use the 
angry words when his wife advised it, angry words are the root of evil. 

Job was not a church-member, yet God said “there is none like him.” 
Dear mother, if the Bible writers had written about women instead of men — 
if the Bible writers had given us for examples women instead of men, to- 
day God could say “ my servant, there is none like her.” It was not God’s 
choice, that put man in the lead in righteousness, but it was Satan that de- 
filed the judgment of man to hold woman down. Satan has always hindered 
God’s work. 

Robert Ingersoll said, “charity should begin at home first.” I say, 
mothers, let Christianity begin at home first, let your works take the lead, 
let your faith follow after, if you practise righteousness at home, when you 
join a church you can show to the world a true Christian mother that will be 
known by her fruits, one that will have a happy family of children at home. 
Let your works and your faith find you a resting place on the great tree of 
life, with Christ. Let your words be mild and sweet, but positive. 

Page 306. All sins must be judged: but the believer's sins have been 
already judged in the cross ; hence , he is 'perfectly justified. To suppose 
that there could be anything against the very feeblest believer , is to deny the 
entire work of the cross. 

God created Jesus, and when he grew up God reached out a portion of 
his mind, which we will call his right hand. Jesus took it and swallowed it, 
arm and all : just as soon as Jesus swallowed God’s right hand and arm, 
God said that is Christ — that is a part of me. God made a bargain with 
that Christ that he would teach the people righteousness, and Christ went 
to work through the machinery of Jesus to fulfil his covenant. The devil 
thought to separate Christ from God, that separation would be first death. 
The people at that time knew nothing about spiritual death, they thought 
that they must put the mortal body to death, and so destroy both Christ and 
Jesus. The devil, through the mouth of some of the Jews approached 


198 


HOW ARE WE LED ? 


Christ and asked him to separate himself from God, abandon his work, and 
so let his covenant pass away, but no. Christ was true to his covenant. He 
knew that the body of matter — the earthly temple they could destroy, but 
he knew that they could not destroy Christ. Christ knew that the devil was 
after him in the body of the Jews, so he went into a garden to pray, and he 
prayed something like this ; ‘ ‘ Father if it be possible, keep them from me, 
but if it be not possible, I will be true to my covenant : Thy will shall be 
done, let them do what they may, I will do just as I promised.” 

Jesus was mild and pleasant but determined. He was determined to 
stand to the covenant that he had made with God, regardless of what the 
devil (through the Jews) could do to the mortal body, he knew that they could 
not hurt Christ. As God had taken the devil in as partner, when he cre- 
ated man — when he said “ let us make man in our own image.” The devil 
holds equal power over man — with God still. Man was made perfectly free 
to choose for himself, whether he would serve God or the devil. Jesus 
Christ chose to serve God, and the devil had no power over him. Those 
who choose to serve the devil, God has no power over them. Those Jews 
chose to serve the devil, God had no power over them. 

It was not the will of Jesus Christ that he be crucified, for he prayed to 
have it pass from him, yet he remembered his covenant and said he would 
do God’s will let what would come. It was not the will of God that Jesus be 
crucified, but the devil’s machinery was at work and God had no power 
over it. 

The mind that was in J esus was a part of God, Satan has no power over 
God’s mind. 

The mind that was in the Jews was a part of the devil, God has no power 
over the mind of the devil. 

The machinery does not cause the work to be done, it is the propelling 
power that is in the machinery that causes the work to be done, then the ma- 
chinery does the work. 

It was the devil that run the machinery that crucified Jesus. It was the 
devil that crucified Jesus, regardless of God’s will. 

It is Christ that atones for the sinners. It is not Jesus — it is not the 
crucifixion of Jesus — it is not the covenant of Jesus, that atones for the sin- 
ners : But it is their own covenant and their own Christ that atones for them : 
and that Christ is a part of the very same God, the very same Christ, that 
was in the body of Jesus. 

Dear reader, God’s right hand is extended to every human being to-day, 
as widely as it was extended to Jesus, and if you swallow it y.ou will have 
Christ in you ; if you cannot swallow his hand and arm, swallow his hand 
alone : if you cannot swallow his hand, swallow a finger, then you will 
have enough of Christ in you that you can make a covenant that will be 
Christ’s covenant. 

It is Christ’s covenant that he makes through your lips that atones for 
you, instead of the covenant of Jesus.. It is you that is a crucifying Christ, 


USE RIGHTEOUS JUDGMENT, CONTINUED. 


199 


when 3 r ou are a separating your mind from righteousness, that is the crucifix- 
ion that is directed expressly to you. 

Page 306. To suppose that there could be anything against the very 
feeblest believer, is to deny the entire work of the cross. 

Let us look at the feeblest believer. He has told us that all that we have 
to believe, is “that Jesus Christ was the Son of God, and that he died on the 
cross for the sinner.” 

We find a class of people that really believe this, yet they do not belong 
to, or never did join, a church ; the preachers preach to them and tell them 
their situation — they must go to hell sure. We find another class that be- 
lieves precisely the same, they join a church, go to church, and comply with 
all of the requirements of the church, read their Bibles at home and have 
family prayers : yet let the least thing go wrong in every day life, they will 
fly mad, jaw, scold, curse, swear, deal harshly, make themselves and all that 
are around them unhappy, in fact I have known those very church- members 
to break every commandment except the first two, and the sixth. They are 
among the believers, and ‘ ‘ to suppose that there can be anything against the 
very weakest believer, is to deny the entire work of the cross.” Is there a 
living soul that believes that such people can meet their God face to face 
with a clear conscience ? 

Page 352. Sin is perfectly put away , and the believing sinner perfectly 
justified \ by the blood of the cross. 

What a delusion. Jesus said “they be blind leaders of the blind. And 
if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch.” 

I will close this chapter with a song, hoping to open the eyes of the 
blind. 



1. Now re - cord all those words in the book of your life, 

2. When you ’re done with this earth, when you ’re laid in the tomb, 

3. Your own mind it shall tell of all things you have done, 

4. And the books shall be o - pened to each, my dear friend, 

5. Your own cov - ’nant a - tones for all deeds you ’ve done wrong, 



They ’ll stand in God’s book at the throne; 

Your mind will be called to the throne, 

All deeds you ’ve done wrong or done right; 
Books ta - ken from each per - son’s mind; 

And sane - tion all deeds you ’ve done right; 



Have you made 
And the ques- 
For all things 
Then your own 
If you ’ve made 


200 


HOW ARE WE LED? 




£ 




a cov • ’nant with your God that you ’ll strive, To walk in 

tions there asked you will set - tie your doom, You ’ll have all 

are re - cord - ed in each per- son’s mind, Re - cord - ed 

book shall show all the deeds you have done, They ’ll show your 

it com - ply with God’s word that ’s so strong, If you, con- 




- - J 


± 


the path he’s laid down? 
to an - swer a - lone, 
so plain and so bright, 
own rec - ord re - fined, 
stant - ly, keep it bright. 


Have you made a cov -’nant 
And the ques - tions there asked 
For all things are re - cord- 
Then your own book shall show 
If you ’ve made it com * ply 


e=!e 




5 




i 


M 


with your God that you ’ll strive To walk in the path he ’s laid down? 
you will set - tie your doom, You ’ll have all to an - swer a - lone, 
ed in each per - son’s mind, Re - cord - ed so plain and so bright, 
all the deeds you have done, They ’ll show your own record re -fined, 
with God’s word that ’s so strong, If you, con-stant - ly, keep it bright. 


CHAPTER XVII. 

Justified by faith. How to drink in of the waters of Christ. A mother’s love. 

A little tract written by a lady, is handed to me, that says : — 

Page 3. The sinner can be justified only by faith in the atonement made 
through God's dear Son. 

Atonement means satisfaction. She plainly tells us, that Jesus satisfied 
God for our sins ; all that we have to do is to believe it. If that is the case 
we might just as well throw aside religion, every body believe that we will 
be happy in Christ regardless of our sins, and thus become a happy nation of 
heathens. 

No one can be justified by any works of his own. He can be delivered 
from the guilt of sin .... only by the virtue of the suffering , death, and 
resurrection of Christ. Taith is the only condition by which justification 
can be obtained . 


HOW TO DRINK IN THE WATERS OP CHRIST. 


201 


Another book called F. H. Revell’s Notes on Genesis. Page 74. Noth- 
ing but the perfect sacrifice of the Son of God can give ease to the heart and 
conscience . All who by faith lay hold of that divine reality, will enjoy a peace 
which the world can neither give or take away . It is faith which puts the 
soul in present possession of this peace. It is not a question of feeling, as 
so many would make it. It is entirely a question of faith in an accom- 
plished fact, faith wrought in the soul of a sinner, by the power of the Holy 
Ghost. This faith is something quite different from a mere feeling of the 
heart, an assent of the intellect. Feeling is not faith. Intellectual assent 
is not faith. Home would make faith to be the mere assent of the intellect 
to a certain proposition. This is fearfully false. It makes the question 
of faith human, whereas it is really divine. 

Dear reader, those writers have gone to extremes with their faith. They 
are determined to drive their faith into every human being, yet they give it 
to us in such a shape that the common class of people cannot actually tell 
whether they possess this faith or not. They tell us that faith is different 
from belief, different from the feeling of the heart, different from intellect, 
different from assent, different from feeling, different from human : And yet 
neither of those books speak of the difference ; and perhaps the writers never 
thought ; what is the difference between the body of matter, and the divine 
body ? Thoughts of the divine being that they ought to teach us, probably 
have never entered into their own mind ; yet, this divine faith, they give to 
us with such extremes that no human being can receive it. They tell us that 
we have got to know those things, the same as though we had seen them. I 
do not know anything that happened more than fifty years ago, yet I believe 
that Jesus was crucified just as the Bible tells us ; if that is faith, I expect 
to go to heaven having that faith, but — as they tell us — that is not faith, I 
just as much believe that I will go to heaven without their faith, as they will 
with faith. I believe greatly in faith, but not to such extremes as they do, 
and I believe that faith must be mingled with works. 

I will give you a little sketch from a newspaper, in regard to a deserted 
wife. We will presume that this lady has been taught that she must have 
this kind of faith, we will presume that this lady is a church-member and 
really believes that her soul will go to heaven on this faith, regardless of her 
works in this life, and yet not knowing what her soul is. 

Had this lady have been taught — when a girl — what her body of mat- 
ter comprises, what a divine being comprises, and have been taught how to 
cultivate a divine being, so as to grow a straight handsome tree of life ; 
she would have received a much greater enjoyment in this world, and re- 
ceived her reward in heaven according to her works. 

EXTRACTS PROM A NEWSPAPER. 

It is a part of a complaint that a woman has lately filed in our courts 
complaining of her husband for desertion. 

“ Mrs. E. G. IS . appeared before squire Holmen this afternoon and 
complained of her husband. 


202 


HOW ARE WE LED ? 


He worked at the Boris Rolling Mill up to two weeks ago , when he gave 
up his job, and left her with five children to support. 

She sags, ‘ 1 there is one good thing I can say about my husband, and 
that is he don't drink, never even went into a saloon: 

1 1 Was never at home / when his work was done he would go up toion to 
see a friend. 

‘ ‘ He told some of the men at the mill that I was all right , if I would not 
scold so much. ” 

Dear reader, the very last words that we have, of this woman’s affidavit, 
are, ‘‘He said that I was all right if I would not scold so much.” Again I 
say, the root of all evil is the human tongue. There is no man that takes 
enjoyment in coming home to a scolding wife : There is no child that de- 
lights in a scolding mother : Neither does any child inherit a Christian dis- 
position of a fretful disagreeable mother : Neither do such mothers create 
comfort for themselves. 

The wife, and mother, can make her home pleasant and happy for herself 
and family, by practise and cultivation of a mild and pleasant tongue : or 
the wife and mother can make home a* disagreeable place for herself, by 
making it a disagreeable place for her husband, and her children. 

The human tongue is the root of all evil : and the greatest seat that that 
root finds, is in the mother’s mouth ; the mother’s tongue can cast off as cut- 
ting words as any tongue that it may meet, and a top of that, it gives in- 
heritance to — from one to a dozen children : and a top of that, it sets ex- 
ample for others to follow, and a top of all it causes many to lose all faith 
in Christian life. 

This woman that made this affidavit in court, if belonging to some 
church, she may have great faith in the blood of the cross taking her to 
heaven regardless of her works. If this be the case, I think we will find 
many crooked nasty trees in heaven. I think Cod wants us to prune our tree 
of life, and grow it up nice and straight. 

Those writers tell us that we have got to have that kind of faith , and 
that faith is all that we can make use of. They tell us that if she has that 
faith, for us to think that she can sin “ is to deny all works of the cross : ’ 
Therefore it is no sin for her to use her tongue — the devil’s main instrument 
of war, but her husband believing all those things that she has faith in yet 
he don’t claim that he positively knows it, therefore his belief does not make 
faith , he has not the right kind of faith , so it is a sin for him to use the 
tongue. Dear reader, it is a sin for any one to use the tongue to extremes, 
and it is an ignorant sin for writers to teach this doctrine. ‘ ‘ The blind are 
leading the blind.” 

Can any one believe that Jesus will take her into heaven — whiter than 
snow — just because she says that “she knows that Jesus Christ was the Son 
of Cod, and that he died on the cross, for the sinners:” when she is con- 
stantly dealing out hell fire to her household? Let righteous judgment an- 
swer. 


HOW TO DRINK IN OF THE WATERS OF CHRIST. 


203 


I truly believe that Jesus — Jesus’s covenant, Jesus’s death and resurrec- 
tion, has nothing to do with the saving of the sinner’s soul. But if we drink 
in of the waters of Christ — if we partake freely of the spirit of Christ — if 
we cultivate the tree of Christ, Christ alone can save us from everlasting 
damnation. It is Christ that saves the sinner, not Jesus. 

Let me tell this lady, — and all others, how to drink in of the great waters 
of Christ. 

God is a great mind of righteousness : Christ is a branch of that great 
mind, Christ was nothing but the mind of Jesus. If you have been a scold- 
ing wife for years, if you repent and go to God in prayer, promise God that 
you will be a scolding wife no more, pray to God to help you to change your 
disposition — you must try of yourself to change your disposition, and pray 
to God only to help you, and God will answer your prayer. I tell you to 
pray to God, because I know that there is great power in prayer, I have 
tried it and I know that God answers prayers, I have had my prayer an- 
swered more than once. God told me plainly to go into Michigan, before I 
did nry first writing. I went and gained that light. My constant prayer is 
for God to guide and enlighten my mind, and to change the desire of my 
body. I do not pray to God to do things that I know that he cannot do : 
God has created every person perfectly free to choose for himself whether he 
will serve God — or the devil. I do not pray to God to change your mind 
and disposition, when. I know that you will not yield to God, but persist in 
serving the devil, — when I know that you won't permit God to have any 
power over you : you must pray for yourself, and work for yourself. For 
“ Every one receives their reward according to their works. ’’ 

But to drink in of the spirit of Christ, you must go to God in prayer, 
promise him that you will be a scolding wife no more — pray to him to help 
you to change your disposition, which he will do if you will do your part, — 
this promise will be your covenant : It will not be the covenant of Jesus — 
not the covenant of your preacher — not the covenant of any one except 
yourself. It will be your own covenant, and will atone for all the scolding 
that you ever did, if you live up to your promise. If you have no sins ex- 
cept scolding, this little covenant is all that is required to atone for you, but 
if you have other sins, make your covenant to cover all of your sins — prom- 
ise God that you will leave off all of your sins, pray to God to help you to 
change your desire for all of your sins, do your part toward cultivating your 
disposition, then you have got the mind of Christ in you, then you have 
drank the spirit — waters of God into you, that promise that you have just 
made God, is the covenant of Christ : The mind of God is then in you, and 
it is Christ, the covenant that you have made with God is Christ’s covenant 
you cannot have too great faith in that Christ, and in that covenant : Keep 
that Christ in you, and keep that covenant bright in your mind, and you 
shall sit on the great throne, with that great Christ that was in the body of 
Jesus. That is the way to drink of the great waters that Jesus told you to 
drink so freely of ; that is the way to drink in of the spirit of Christ, that 


204 


HOW ARE WE LED ? 


is the way to become a branch of the great tree of life, and so atone for all 
of your sins and make sure of a home in heaven. 

The greater the faith in this Christ, and the greater the faith in this 
Christ’s works, and the greater the faith in this covenant, the greater the re- 
ward in heaven. 

God’s right hand is widely extended to every human being to-day — 
which, is the true and living Christ ; and every person who wilfully rejects 
and casts away that Christ, is a crucifier of that Christ ; This crucifixion of 
Christ is constantly going on ; this crucifixion of Christ is what we ought to 
teach our people about, teach them how that Christ will meet every person at 
the throne, and point out those who have taken him in, and those who have 
constantly been crucifying him ; then dear reader your own book will be 
opened, and there will stand your record, plain, and bright : and canceled by 
your own atonement. 

The mind that we take in us, is either the mind of God, or the mind of 
the devil — the mind of Christ, or the mind of Satan — the mind of the 
Christian, or the mind of the sinner : it must be the mind of one or the 
other. 

Every true Christian is a Christian because they have left off following 
after the mind of the devil, and taken to following after the mind of God : 
and for that reason I say that Christ is on earth again to-day. The day is a 
coming, and is close at hand, that a person will spring up, that will be as 
pure in both body and mind as Jesus was. Then Christ will reign in that 
being as strongly as he reigned in the body of Jesus, and they will not cru- 
cify him, but will cleave to him, and his teachings will cause more to grow 
up as purely as himself ; then Christ will have full reign on this earth : then 
God will dwell on this earth in the body of man — as he planned, at the crea- 
tion of the world. 

The mind is all that constitutes man, without the mind we are naught 
but a mute body of matter. 0 ! sinners, learn to wash and cleanse your 
own mind, to make it whiter than snow, and so prepare yourself for ever- 
lasting happiness in heaven. 

D. H. Weaver, in writing his little book, after he had shown the love of 
the mother for her offspring by pointing us to the bird, the beast, and then 
the human mother, he made the following remarks: 

What tears ! ichat night-ioatching ! what solicitude ! what self-denial ! 
what joy ! what pure affections are included in the word “ mother! ” She 
literally dies for her children. To them she gives all of her thoughts and 
her oowers of mind and body. It is not to be wondered at that when writers, 
sacred or profane, have desired to convey some adequate notion of that love 
l G-od for His universe, they have always asked us to look upon a mother 
and her children. 

It seems that a person cannot write of anything, without going to ex- 
tremes; why is it necessary to magnify anything, and show it so much 
greater than it is ! Mr. Weaver, like all others, directs us to the mother’s 
love for her children, as a parable with God’s love. 


HOW TO DRINK IN THE WATERS OF CHRIST. 


205 


Let me say that we never see two human faces that are alike, we never 
see two human minds that are alike, nor we never see two mother’s love 
that are alike. The mother’s love is flighty, The mother does not know 
what to love. The mother’s love for the flesh is extremely great when the 
infant is young and new, but as it grows older the mother’s love fades away, 
and shows its flightiness, in some mothers more than others: this is seen in 
a greater extent between companions. A new married girl loves her com- 
panion as a mother loves her child. 

I once heard a woman say — while visiting at my house — in speaking of 
her son that was not ten years old, “I can do nothing with Harry any 
more, he pays no more attention to what I say, than as if I did not speak. 
I will be glad when he goes for himself, then he will be out of my way. ” 

Dear reader, this woman loved the flesh of her child, she had not thought 
of love for the spirit, and her love for the flesh was fast fading away. She 
would be glad to see her son leave home, with a reckless spirit, that would 
guide the body into the saloon, and from there into the gutter, to make a 
perfect wreck of his body. How will that mother feel when she sees her son 
in that condition. Had she thought less of the flesh — had she thought 
more of his spirit, she would have trained his spirit in a manner that she 
would have loved his flesh, with the love of God, a lasting love. 

In that very visit, that woman had a boy with her that was not three 
years old, he would run into the pantry to seek after mischief, my woman 
had brought him out of the pantry a time or two, when he turned to go into 
it again, his mother said, 1 ‘ Ray you go and sit down, do you hear me ? the boy 
turned and braced himself at the side of the door, looking the mother in the 
face, whilst she went on to say, ‘ ‘ you go and sit down in that chair, go on ! 
I tell you to mind ! “ During all of this time the boy stood perfectly still, 
and looked the mother in the face, until she turned her attention to some- 
thing else, leaving the boy standing there. 

I immediately wrote the mother’s words down, thinking, was it to be 
wondered at, that the boy ten years old, heeded not the mother’s words. 

This poor little boy’s spirit was ruined before he was three years old, and 
how quick will the mother’s love fade from him. And yet we say, “ 0 ! 
the mother’s with love.” 

I was afterwards stopping at a house for a number of days, where there 
was a little girl less than two years old. I noticed that the mother would 
tell the girl what to do, and if she had to speak to the girl the second time, 
she would speak with a smile on her face, and in a pleasant tone. What was 
more surprising, I saw that when the little girl saw that she must obey the 
mother, she would often return the smile as she turned her ways. I thought 
that that was the sweetest mother’s love I ever saw. That mother loves the 
spirit of her child, and compelled the child to obey her commands with a 
smile on her face, she could hurt the flesh of her little child without anger, 
and so train the spirit in such a manner that she will never have an occasion 
to say that she will be glad to see her child leave home. It is the spirit ol the 
child that causes the mother s love to fade away, and it is a fault in the mind 


206 


HOW ARE WE LED ? 


of the mother, that permits the spirit of her child to grow up as the thorn, and 
the tare : the whole transaction rests upon the shoulders of the mother, for 
lack of use of righteous judgment, before the child was three years old. 

When we compare God’s love with the love of a righteous mother, I am 
willing to say that the “ richest emblem is then exhausted: ” 

People in studying human nature, can learn to tell what kind of love 
existed in the mother’s breast, though never seeing the mother — by becom- 
ing acquainted with her children. Children born of a righteous mother, in 
their general conversation, their words are soft, mild, and pleasant : Chil- 
dren born and raised by a flighty mother — a mother whose love is apt to 
fade away, their words are rough, harsh, over-bearing, and haughty : their 
tone of speech is more or less adapted to rudeness. 

You ask, how can the daughter that has inherited this rough, haughty 
nature, overcome it ? Dear daughter, some of our preachers will tell you, 
that you are one that God has predestined for everlasting damnation : That 
is, they will come and preach to you, and tell you to repent ; but when you 
come to sift their sermon, you will see that in a mild and pleasant way, they 
have told you, that, Olive, is foreordained of God, for heaven, whilst they 
will tell you that you are predestinated from God for hell ; or in other words, 
they may give the mild and pleasant girl, the name of Olive: And they may 
give you the name of Arian. But dear Ariana, I tell you that this pleasant, 
mild, disposition of Olive was a gift from the mother, not of God. God has put 
that power into the mother, to give Olive the birth-mark of Jesus Christ: 
and God has put that power into the mother, to give Ariana the birth-mark 
of Cain. Olive’s nature is an indirect gift from God through God’s agent — 
the Christian mother ; whilst Ariana’s nature is an indirect gift from the 
devil, through the devil’s agent — the sinful mother. 

Those preachers will tell you that you cannot have the disposition of 
Olive, except J esus sees fit to atone for }^ou ; they will farther tell you that 
you were predestinated to this nature before the creation of the earth, thus 
cutting off the pow r er of Jesus. 

Christ came to call the sinners to repentance, not the righteous : I am a 
writing for the benefit of Ariana, not Olive: I say dear Ariana, God’s hand 
is stretched out to you, as widely as it is to any living person, take and 
swallow his little finger, then his whole hand, and so his whole arm, then 
you will have Christ in you: then Christ will atone for you, as those 
preachers said Jesus might do. 

Dear Ariana, you will find that it takes works on your part to swallow the 
arm or hand of God, but after you have obtained Christ, you will find that 
it is the spiritual blood of Christ that will change your disposition and give 
you a mild and gentle disposition like that of Olive’s, it is not the blood of 
Jesus. You will find it the works of Christ, and the works of yourself, 
through your own practise and prayers : When you have thus changed your 
nature, you can say that your new nature is a gift of God, not a gift from 
your mother. You can have such faith in this Christ as those books tell 
about , you can know that this Christ has done the works that you have 


THE GREAT POWER OP THE BLOOD OP JESUS. 


207 


prayed for, but you cannot know the works of Jesus Christ, you can only 
believe what you have read of Jesus Christ: And a top of all that, you 
can be the mother that can give the gift of God — a kind and mild nature — 
to your offspring. As you cultivate your tree in this life, so you will find 
it in the life to come. 


CHAPTER XVIII. 

Divine law, typical law, and civil law. The great weight in typical work. 

We will continue to look at our teachings, and at our examples. 

In the first place let me say that our people have learned to divide things 
into classes different from what they were divided in olden times. 

In Moses’s time they had a law, this was supposed to be one law and was 
called Moses’s law, and written promiscuously in a book. 

We have the very same law to-day : live under it, governed by it, pro- 
tected by it, and could not have civilization without it. 

Because we find it promiscuously in the Old Testament, our preachers tell 
us that it is abolished, dead, decayed and laid aside. 

To-day our scientific men have learned to divide law into three different 
classes, divine law, typical law, and civil law. Now let us divide Moses’s 
law just the same. Let us divide the Old Testament even into five different 
classes. First, we extract the evil sinful records from the Old Testament, — 
which are nothing but records of sinful works that ought to be abolished, 
dead, and laid aside. Second, we find the prophecies of righteous people — 
or rather, of God’s righteous works, through the body of righteous people, 
that have been watched for, for many years, and may still be watched for. 
Third, we find civil law : Moses’s people were probably the most civilized 
people of their day, yet they were far behind us in civilization, why should 
not we expect their civil laws to be far behind ours. Fourth, we find typical 
law, which has but little weight in my mind, yet those who desire to sift it 
out, should have the privilege of sifting it. Fifth, what we have left in the 
Old Testament is God’s divine law, which is as pure and as unchangeable as 
it was the day it was given, and Jesus’s whole teachings were based upon 
this divine law, not repealing one word of it. 

I will now introduce another book written by R. H. Revell, entitled, 
* Notes on Leviticus. This book has a long preface, we will look through its 
preface and note the contents. 

Page 5. In the person and works of the Lord Jesus Christ there is an 
infinite fulness , which meets every necessity of man. 

The' definition of the word ‘‘infinite” is beyond any reach whatever — 
without an end. By his remark we understand that the power of Jesus 
Christ has no end. Righteous judgment says that the power of Jesus ended 
on the cross, the power of Christ finds an end with every sinner, just as long 
as that sinner chooses to be a servant of the devil : but the power of God 
and the power of the devil, taken together, has no end. 


208 


HOW ARE WE LED ? 


How can he {man) be redeemed , justified, and brought into the promised 
land ? God only could answer such questions, and this he did in the blood 
of the slain Lamb. 

Let me say right here, that this man can prove many things by quoting 
from the Bible, let me further say that the Bible not only contains God’s 
word — the divine law, but also the typical scenes, actions, and parables, 
together with moral laws, prophecies, and records of various evil doings, and 
the traditions of man, which were entirely void of God’s inspiration. It 
requires righteous judgment to sift the Bible, and collect pure righteousness. 
I appeal to righteous judgment in all points. 

We remember that he said that the power of Jesus was unlimited, and 
that God answered those questions “ in the blood of the slain Lamb.” Now 
he goes on to say. 

In the redemption — power of that blood, every question is settled . It 
meets Heaven's highest claims, and mail's deepest necessities. Through its 
amazing efficacy (efficacy means power, — “through the power of the 
mortal blood of Jesus the blood of Jesus had no more power than the 
blood of you or I, it is the spiritual blood of Christ that has the power. 

Through its amazing efficacy God is glorified , man is redeemed, saved, 
justified , and brought to God's holy habitation ; whilst the enemy is com- 
pletely overthrown, and his power destroyed. 

He says, through the power of the blood of Jesus, “man’s soul is saved, 
and the enemy’s (devil’s) power is destroyed.” I cannot see wherein the 
devil’s power is destroyed. When each person learns how that Christ can 
dwell in them, then Christ will reign on earth, and the devil’s power will be 
reduced to that of man, then man must say, that it is his own choice to do 
the works of the devil. But to-day the devil’s power holds a strong hand, 
he meets us face to face, and tries to cut us off at every righteous attempt 
we make. If the blood of Jesus has done away with all power of the devil, 
in those who have the faith they must confess that their every day sins and 
shortcomings are of their own free will, not through the influence of the devil. 

Page 6. Without the word of the Lord, neither priest 7ior people could take 
a single step in the right direction. There is not a single ray of light in this 
dark world, but that which is shed from holy Scripture. 

We find there was righteous people in the world before the Scriptures 
were written, how did they get their light only through the influence that 
God’s mind has over the mind of man ? God has the same power to-day that 
he had before the writing of the Bible was finished. 

He tells us that we get not one word of righteous light, except it is shed 
from the “ holy Scripture.” Dear reader God gave light to man and woman, 
before the Bible was written ; God is a great mind ; God has power over 
the mind of all people who will accept his power, and to-day — if we will 
accept it — the mind of God influences the mind of man — enlightens the 
mind of man — as much to-day as he did before the Bible was written : the 
trouble is, man does not know how to understand God. 

God is a great mind, and man is a great mind, also. God talks to man 


THE GREAT POWER OF THE BLOOD OF JESUrf. 


209 


by the influence of the mind, but we will not yield to such influence, God 
talks about the mind, and calls it man, but we cannot understand his mean- 
ing: God talks to the mind of man in various ways, but Satan deludes us, 
blinds us, and deafens us. 

Can the writer’s words be true? “there is not a single ray of light in 
this dark world, but that which is shed abroad from holy Scriptures ” ? 
Where did Noah get his light before the Scriptures were written ? we have no 
Scriptures from his time, and only a slight sketch of his record, enough to 
show us that he was a righteous man walking in the light from God. Where 
did Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Moses get their light, when entirely alone, 
without a word of Scripture to reflect upon ? Job and many other righteous 
men that were outside of the Hebrew region, where did they get their light 
if Mr. Revell’s words are true ? All the Scriptures that were written could 
not reach the extent of the righteous light of Jesus, and yet he without 
schooling. Dear reader God can give the human mind righteous light to-day 
as easy as he could in those days, if man will only accept it. Can this 
man’s words, — that “ there is not a single ray of light in this dark world, 
but that which is shed from holy Scripture ” — find a resting place in any 
righteous mind ? God’s light has always been free to the human mind, and 
to-day it is just as free to all who will strive to prepare themselves to receive 
it. Those who will not recieve God’s word may say “ this dark world.” 

Page 7. We have all . . . . in the person and work of our blessed Lord 
Jesus ! He is both our sacrifice and priest , and our right of entrance into 
the holiest of all. 

We see that this man places all on the shoulders of Jesus. “He is our 
sacrifice and our priest” : Dear reader Christ is our God, but Jesus is naught. 

Let us now briefly notice the three points. In the first place , we would 
observe , that sacrifice is the basis of worship. Acceptable icorship to God 
must be based on sacrifice acceptable to him. 

Revell says that we must have a sacrifice that God will accept of, in order 
to have him accept of our worship. Dear reader it is not our worship that 
God rejects, or accepts of ; but it is our works. In the early stage of the 
human mind we had to have sacrifice, worship, washing, and many things 
visible to the mortal eye, to make us understand spiritual teachings, but to- 
day our minds have so developed that we can study divinity without those 
earthly sceneries. As for worship, when we are a worshiping God, we are a 
culivating and a drilling our own mind for divine happiness, not for God to 
accept of, but for our own special benefit. 

God wants a covenant from you, individually; He wants you to make 
him a promise, then he wants you to try to live up to that promise, that is 
what you should try to make and try to keep perfect enough for God to ac- 
cept of, then he will accept of your worshiping, and of your spirit, regard- 
less of what denomination you belong to. Remember Revell book says that 
“Jesus is our sacrifice.” Our forefathers gave some living animal as a sac- 
rifice, we must give up our living desire for sin, as a sacrifice. 

14 


210 


HOW ARE WE LED ? 


When the worshiper comes before God on the ground of this sacrifice , 
he finds that he has nothing to do save to show forth the praise of him who 
has called us. 

Is not this a grand idea : ‘ ‘ All that we have to do is to show forth the 
praise of him who hath called us.” We may be ever so sinful, “to suppose 
that there is any sin against us is to deny the whole works of the cross,” and 
‘ ‘ all that we have to do is to show forth the praise of him who has called 
us.” He further says of Jesus Christ, 

He put away sin by the sacrifice of himself .... who through the eter- 
nal Spirit , offered himself without spot. 

Dear reader, I say that Jesus did not offer himself for a sacrifice, but the 
devil offered him. Jesus knew that the devil and his imps were after him: 
He did not want to die, he did not want to go to the cross, he went by him- 
self into a garden and cast himself onto the ground, and prayed; Father if it 
be possible for this thing to pass by let it pass. (Can any living soul say 
that Jesus offered himself, when he prayed to God to deliver him from them?) 
I know what Paul said, I know the date of Paul’s time, he was not in the 
enlightenment of our present times. But Jesus prayed, if it be possible to 
let it pass by, let it pass ; but (it was not possible, the devil was a running 
that thing, it was out of God’s power: the devil was then let loose, and God 
had no power over him, but Jesus went on with his prayer) if it be not pos- 
sible that this pass by me, “thy will be done,” I will stand true to my post 
— I will do my work, let them do what they may with me. 

Dear reader, it was not the will of Jesus that he was taken to the cross 
and crucified; Jesus did not offer himself as a sacrifice; but the devil offered 
him: and the devil sacrificed him, and we the young devils are a rejoicing 
over that sacrifice, and say that that lets us into heaven without anything on 
our part. O what a shame that we are taught to rejoice in the devil’s sacri- 
fice, of the most righteous person that ever trod the face of the earth, and 
still more than that, we are taught that we may still remain in our sins, and 
yet take his righteous seat in heaven, just because we rejoice in the dev- 
il’s sacrifice. If this writer was backed by forty Pauls, righteous judgment 
would conflict: may God forbid such teachings. 

Let us examine the Bible writers in a parable, Paul with the rest. Let 
us suppose that God created the mind of Adam, as a young and tender plant 
just out of the earth, let us suppose that God had just one hundred words to 
say to man, no more, no less, always the very same words : Now let us sup- 
pose that God spoke these one hundred words to Adam, but Adam’s mind, 
judgment, and understanding were so young and tender that they could not 
comprehend God’s meaning. We come on down to Seth, and we find 
that Seth’s mind, judgment, and understanding had greatly improved 
since Adam’s creation: God comes and says those very same one hundred 
words to him, that he had spoken to Adam. Let us suppose that Seth 
could understand one tenth part of those words, and no more; and 
Seth wrote those words down and called it his scripture. Then we 
come on down to Noah’s time, and we find man’s mind, judgment, and 


THE DEVIL OFFERED A SACRIFICE. 


211 


understanding had greatly improved: God came and spoke those very 
same one hundred words to Noah, and Noah understood one eighth part of 
God’s words, he wrote them down with many other things, and called that 
his scripture. Next we come down to Abraham’s time, we find that man’s 
mind had developed into intellect: God came to Abraham and told him those 
very same one hundred words, and Abraham understood one-sixth part, and 
he wrote it down in the records of his days. Then Jacob, God told him 
those very same words, and he was capable of understanding one fifth of 
God’s words, which he also wrote down in the records of his life. Intellect 
still developing, we see Joseph reflecting upon God’s word’s, he understands 
one third of them, he also notes them in the records of his life. Then we 
come to Moses, intellect has greatly developed from what it was in Adam, 
God tells Moses those very same one hundred words, he repeats them to 
Moses time and again; Moses fully understands one half of God’s words, he 
writes them down in the record of his life, and also puts them in a book and 
calls them the scriptures. We jump over all other righteous men and come 
down to the apostles, we find intellect in the fullest of bloom : God comes 
and tells those apostles those very same one hundred words, and through 
the mouth of Jesus, a tongue of their own language, and Jesus says unto 
them “why do ye not understand my speech?” but intellect being in full 
bloom, the apostles understood three fourths of God’s word, the greatest ad- 
vance ever made in righteousness: they have written it in books — and joined 
it too — and called it scripture. 

Now dear reader God has told us those one hundred supposed words, 
eight different times, which have been written down and called holy scrip- 
tures : can righteous judgment say that we can go to any one of those 
records and get a perfect holy scripture? Shall we go to those different 
records and expect to find in one, precisely the same as in another, God 
having spoken those one hundred words precisely the same each time ? 
The teachings of those different records must differ, but God’s part of them 
is precisely the same, with the exceptions of natural growth. Just so, 
dear reader, with God’s righteous teachings throughout all generations, it is 
precisely the same with the exceptions of natural growth of man’s intellect : 
but we have got to sift those teachings to get out God righteousness. 

Now let me ask, can it be possible for man to write down the inspira- 
tions of God, beyond their natural language and understanding, so far 
beyond the reach of their present growth ? And again let me ask, shall we 
stand perfectly still in righteousness, at the close of the apostles’ writings, 
if they only understood three fourths of God’s words ? Shall we wait to hear 
Christ say “why do ye not understand my speech?” Shall we suppose 
Paul to lay aside his whole mind and former teachings, and write God’s 
inspirations perfectly : he being a man of imperfection ? Or shall we 
through righteous judgment search diligently for the remainder of God’s 
words ? knowing that intellect has passed its fulness of bloom, and gradually 
ripening up. But we will turn to Revell’s book again, to see his next 
remarks. 


212 


HOW ARE WE LED ? 


Page 7 . Man being in himself guilty and unclean , he needs a sacrifice 
to remove his guilt , cleanse him from his defilements , and fit him for the 
holy presence of God. .... Without shedding of blood there is no remis- 
sion. 

For support, Revell quotes Paul’s Heb. 9: 22. And almost all things are 
words, “ without shedding of blood is no by the law purged with blood; and with- 
remission.” out shedding of blood is no remission. 

Let us read that whole verse and we see that Paul hung to his old 
teachings. 

Then we turn to Acts 16: 3, and we see Acts 16 : 3. Him (Timotheus) would 
that he circumcised Timotheus to please Paul have to go forth with him; and 
man, not to please God, after they had took and circumcised him because of 
had a great strife over that question, the Jews which were in those quarters: 
and had written letters to the brethren, 
not to be circumcised, and also tell by 
the word of mouth those things. 

I could quote more from Paul’s writings to show that the Jewish ideas 
had to be somewhat submitted to, but I have quoted enough to show you 
that I am justified in using righteous judgment. As for the crucifixion of 
Jesus being a sacrifice, let me say, at that time the whole world thought that 
there had to be a sacrifice for the remission of sins, and for that reason the 
only way that the apostles could conciliate any, that their sms were forgiven 
without sacrifice, was to teach them that the crucifixion was a sacrifice. 

Page 10. By the work of Christ for us, our sms were all put away. 
And, now , by faith in God's word, we knoio that they are all forgiven and 
forgotten. 

If God created man in his own image, it is the mind, and nothing but 
the mind. If the mind of God is everlasting, and if the mind of man is in 
the image of God, the mind of man must be everlasting. If the mind of 
man is everlasting, we cannot annihilate a part of the mind and preserve the 
other part: therefore our sins cannot be forgotten . “By the works of 
Christ (in us), our sins are all put away. And now by faith in God’s word, 
we know they are all forgiven” but not forgotten. But let me ask, what is 
Christ ? you say that Christ was that little babe that was born nineteen hun- 
dred years ago last Christmas day — who was crucified eighteen hundred and 
sixty-four years ago this present March, 1897. I say no ! that was not 
Christ that was Jesus. Christ dwelt in that Jesus: but the Christ that is 
a doing those works that Revell is just now a telling about, is the mind of 
God that is a dwelling in you dear brother, or dear sister. What God calls 
Christ is a portion of his mind that dwells in man, woman, or child. That 
portion of God’s mind that dwelt in Jesus was a great Christ, and did 
great works ; that portion of God’s mind that may dwell in you, will be a 
smaller Christ, and do smaller works: but it is Christ just the same. 


THE DEVIL’S SACRIFICE. 


213 


Christ must do his works through your body — or rather you must do the 
works yourself through the aid of Christ, which atones for your sins, which 
amends your evil doings. 

The balance of this preface is similar to what we have been over, there- 
fore I will make but few remarks as we pass through it, only quote it to show 
how people must go to extremes. It seems that no question can come up, 
but what the advocater must go to extremes. To go to extremes on a relig- 
ious question, drives people into the church, or into infidelity: A person 
driven into the church is a poor Christian. 

Page 10. No more Conscience of Sin. It simply means that Christ , 
by the one , perfect , finished sacrifice of himself has forever put away, all 
our sins , root and branch. And having been led to know and believe this , 
how can there be sin on the conscience ? Christ has put them all away. 

Dear reader, believe me, Christ has not put away a sin, unless you have 
drank freely of the waters of Christ. Get Christ into you, then he will put 
away your sins. 

The precious blood of our once-offered and accepted sacrifice has cleansed 
us from every spot and stain of sin. 

The precious blood of Jesus has been perfectly powerless for near 
nineteen hundred years, but the spiritual blood of Christ will atone for your 
sins, if you drink freely of that blood. Dear reader, strive to drink of the 
blood of Christ , not of the blood of Jesus. 

There may be the deepest sense of indwelling sin, and of many sins, and 
shortcomings in our every-day life, and the painful confession of them all to 
God. Still there is the full assurance that Christ died for our sins. 

Christ never died. The way that Jesus died for our sins, is thus : Jesus 
made a covenant with God that he would teach the people how to do away 
with their sins. The young devils, or the children of the devil, told him to 
lay aside his teachings. But no, he had promised God, and he would die 
at his post, rather than break his promise : and the devil that was in the 
Jews took Jesus and crucified him, because he would not do just as they 
said. And now for persons to call themselves human — and at the same time 
teach us that this wicked crime of the Jews will take us into heaven spotless 
and clean, regardless of our many sins, indwelling sins, and shortcomings in 
every-day life — they are lacking in humanity, puts them all away, and that 
not one of them can ever be laid to your charge. This is indeed a most 
wonderful thought ; but it is the great, the needed truth for a worshiper. 

May I ask righteous judgment if this is the truth ? 

Page 12. He is our sacrifice and our priest. He appeared on the cross 
for us, he now appears in heaven for us. Page 14. Christ appears con- 
tinually in the presence of God for us. The name of each believer, is kept 
constantly before the eye of God, in all the glory and beauty of Christ , 
his well-beloved Son. We stand in his righteousness, possess his lif % enjoy 
his peace, are filled with his joy , and radiate his glory. Although without 
right, title, or privilege in ourselves, we have all in him. He is there for us 
and as us. Ilis name be forever praised. 


214 


HOW ARE WE LED ? 


lie stands in heaven their great high Priest , 

And bears their names upon his breast. 

It is by his continual intercession in heaven that saints on earth are 
succored and sustained in their wilderness journey , and, at the same time , 
upheld as worshipers within the vail , in all the sweet fragrance of his own 
divine excellencies , and neither their ignorance , nor their lack of enjoyment 
of those things , alters or affects their blessed , glorious , eternal reality. 

I appeal to righteous judgment, and shall expect an answer. Has not 
Revell, gone beyond extremes in telling us that Christ is a different being 
from God, and that he stands between us and God, and that God knows 
nothing about us except what he tells God. Please read his words over 
again, and see how he is a teaching us that Christ is constantly making God 
believe that we are as clean and as spotless from sin, as Jesus was. He is a 
teaching us that Christ makes God believe that we are perfect, just because 
we worship the name of Jesus. How plain he tells our mothers to destroy 
the enjoyment of their home circles, “and the lack of enjoyment of those 
things alter or affect” naught. 

Page 15. As our great high Priest , he presents to God the gifts and 
sacrifices of his worshiping people. How perfectly all this is done for 
the worshiper now , by his high priest in heaven. Our prayers, praises , 
and thanksgiving , all pass through his hands before they reach the throne of 
God. What a wonderful mercy this is, when 'toe think of our confused and 
mixed services. By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God 
continually, that is, the fruit of our lips. 

How plainly he is a teaching us that we need take no thought or care of 
our spiritual welfare, that Jesus so perfectly does all of that, if we only give 
him the fruits of our lips, let our incoming sins — our every-day sins, be 
what they may. How plainly he teaches us to make a god of the mortal 
body of Jesus, and to worship that Jesus, and so break the first command- 
ment of God. “Thou shalt have no other god before me.” Ex. 20:3. 
“For thou shalt worship no other god.” 34 : 14. “Then Peter and the 
other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men.” 
Acts 5 : 29. 

Jesus was naught but an earthly temple, that the Jews could cut to 
pieces, burn up, or destroy in any way that they might choose, they did 
make holes in his hands, feet, and side, he told them that they could “ destroy 
this temple.” John 2 : 19. “He spoke of the temple of his body.” 21. 
Jesus was naught but a body of matter the same as your body and my body, 

‘ ‘ Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in 
you, which ye have of God” ? 1 Cor. 5 : 19. 

Jesus was naught but the great machinery for Christ to dwell in. You 
may call it the mind of God, you may call it the Holy Ghost or you may 
call it Christ, it was the man that run that great machinery : The man that 
gave us those great divine teachings. Christ was that great fountain of 
water that he told us to drink freely of. 


GREAT TYPICAL WORK. 


215 


I can’t worship Jesus as God, but Christ was God, “I and my Father 
are one.” John 10 : 30. 

There is one sentence on page 13 that I will open my next chapter with, 
otherwise we will close this little book, by saying that it has a very long 
preface, and that we found very much in this preface to reflect upon, and by 
saying that the body of the book goes over with what we have found in the 
preface, and tries to typify his statements from the Old Testament. I think 
it of no use to follow the writer through his book, but believe that I can 
cover his whole typical work by relating one short story of three little boys 
play in a dry ditch. 

Three little boys playing in a dry ditch, each stuck up a stick in the 
ground, and tied their handkerchiefs at the top of their stick. 0 ! they cried, 
we ’ve got a liberty pole : and their little sticks typified the liberty pole 
to perfection. And they soon discovered that the oldest had a hickory, 
whilst the second had an ash, and the younger had an oak. The next seen 
was, that the two older boys began quarreling over the virtue of their poles, 
whilst the younger boj T stood back and looked on : Then the little boys 
typified three of our political parties perfectly. But soon to stop the quarrel 
the younger boy picked up another stick and laid it on top of the other 
three : O ! he said, I know, we will build a railroad bridge across the ditch ! 
the other boys turned, and there they saw a bridge bent typified ; but they 
soon began quarreling over the production of material to build their bridge. 
Nov/ we see that the little boys play typified a great many of our buisness 
men, by beginning their construction without means to carry it through. Next 
the little boy picked up some brush and laid it from the bridge bent to the 
bank of the ditch, and put some grass on it ; and cried, 0 ! we ’ll build a 
cow shed ! The older boys turned to see their sticks typifying the great 
posts of an old hay shed. Just then their mother called on them for some 
wood, and all of their collections were turned into wood, and thrown into the 
wood box, Now we find that this little boy play has typified a great bank- 
ruptcy, and we find that the wood-box typifies the great receiver, that takes 
possession of the valuables. 

Now dear reader we find that with one short play spell, we have typified 
seven different things, and we are not done yet, we look at the little boys 
quarreling, and we find that it typifies human nature throughout the world. 

If those little boys played this play in Europe, before America was dis- 
covered, the writer of “Notes on the Book of Leviticus,” cannot deny but 
what all of those American transactions were typified by this one transaction. 
Just so dear reader, we can take the Old Testament and typify anything we 
may please. Just so with all typical work, you may take an object and 
typify one thing, and I can take the same object and typify altogether a 
different thing : Therefore I will not look over his typical work, but leave it 
entirely to the judgment of his reader. 


CHAPTER XIX. 


Peace, love, and unity, in different denominations who build one church to wor- 
ship in. 

Page 13. There is no mention in the New Testament of any peculiar 
class , or order of Christians. 

When we laid aside R. H. Revell’s book, we thought to open this chap- 
ter with the above passage found on his 13th page. 

The above statement is what a great many different people have thought, 
and a great many different preachers have preached in the pulpit, is that we 
ought to be more united in our worship. 

God is peace, love, and unity ; whilst Satan is tumult, hatred, and sepa- 
ration ; at home or abroad, in the church, or out of the church. 

In new places this peace and unity exist among members of different 
denominations, without thinking of any ‘ ‘ peculiar class, or order of Chris- 
tians ” until they begin to want to build a church, or house to worship 
God, in. 

Of course the members of the different denominations understand their 
difference in creeds, and faith, but they lay that all aside, and worship to- 
gether in peace, love, and unity, as long as they are satisfied with a school- 
house to worship in. 

The ministers will of course explain their faith and doctrine, but at the 
same time tell us that we ought to work and worship together, and be 
united. 

In the small villages, or in the country, they often say, our denomination 
is not strong enough to build a church of our own, neither is your denomina- 
tion strong enough, let us join together and build a church that shall be free 
to all denominations, except this, or that, generally excluding the Catholic 
and the Spiritualist. 

After they have got their money subscribed, and are ready to buy their 
lot to build on, they say that our deed must run to some legally organized 
denomination to make it valid. This is correct, if the association holding 
the deed, is not legally organized, and the records of their organization 
recorded in the county records, of the county in which the land lies, the 
deed is void. 

Then of course, as this denomination, or that denomination, is already 
duly organized and recorded, the deed should run to that denomination, and 
become the property of that denomination, and it soon becomes known that 
all other denominations are cut off : and that they have no right or privilege 
whatever. And it is then ! that their peace ! is changed to tumult, their love 
to hatred, and their unity to separation. 

After having experience of this kind in the building of three different 
churches, we learned that peace, love, and unity, was Christianity ; and when 
all in this peace, love, and unity, threw in their money, it was Christian 

[ 216 ] 


THE UNION CHURCH. 


217 


money. We also learned, that, tumult, hatred, and separation, was Satan - , 
and to build a satanish church, with Christian money, was hardly right. 
Instead of its being a union church as anticipated, it must be a sectarian 
church in spite of the feelings of the community. 

After hearing different preachers, and people, say so often that we ought 
to work together and try to bring the different churches into a more perfect 
unity with each other, I became a citizen of a little town where this church- 
auilding question sprang up. And they asked for good union — Christian 
money, from the worldly people as well as from church-members of any and 
all religious denominations: to build a church that should be free to the use 
of any, and all religious denominations. 

There were members of four or five different denominations in this little 
town. Those that took the most interest in this building matter, were mem- 
bers of the Methodist, Christian, ( Campbellites ), and Catholic churches. 

When the question arose, what denomination shall the church be dedi- 
cated to, I remarked ; we are a trying to raise union money to build a union 
church: Let us form a union organization to hold this deed. This plan was 
quickly adopted, an organization was legally formed, officers elected, consti- 
tution formed and recorded in the county records. But only three church- 
members were ready to take part in this union work. 

After we had formed our constitution and got it ready to record, a few 
more church-members joined us, and we began to solicit for money to build 
a union church. I visited quite a number in this solicitation, and I found 
that the church-members that advocated unity in Christianity, were very slow 
to aid in the building of a union church. The members of the (so-called) 
Christian church would say, I am in favor of unity in Christianity, but I 
don’t like your constitution. I think that we ought to knock the creed of 
the other churches from under them, and the harder that we can knock them 
the better. 

I would like to ask ! righteous ! judgment ! is it the right way to bring 
all religious denominations into unity, to drive ! them ! in? and “ the harder 
that we can knock them the better” ? Where is Satan’s power ? 

Below I will give the constitution of this union organization, as it is 
recorded in the county records. 

UNION CHURCH. 

Shelby, Lake County, Ind., February 17, 1896. 

The citizens of this place met at the schoolhouse to decide whether they 
should build a church or not. Upon voting on it, the majority of the votes cast 
were in favor of erecting a Union chapel, and it was resolved that a Union congre- 
gation be organized for the building and holding a chapel in unity with, and in 
freedom to all religious denominations. Therefore a committee was appointed to 
frame a constitution, and do such business for said Union church as may come 
before them. John E. Caster was chosen as chairman. An appointment was made 
for the meeting of said committee on the 21st day of February. Then the meeting 
adjourned. 

On February 21st the committee met and was called to order by J. E. Caster, 
who acted as chairman and secretary The constitution was framed and debated 


218 


HOW ARE WE LED ? 


upon. It was then decided to assemble at the schoolhouse at Shelby, on March 
6th, for the purpose of holding a general neeting, and for the reading of said 
constitution. 

On March 6th the general meeting was held as per appointment, and was called 
to order by J. E. Caster, chairman. The following constitution was then read : — 

“Constitution of the Union church of Shelby, Lake county, Ind. We the 
people of above-mentioned place, in order to perform a more perfect unity of Chris- 
tianity, make this effort to establish a church that shall be free to all religious 
denominations that acknowledge the teachings of the Bible and the gospel of Jesus 
Christ. We therefore ordain and establish this constitution for the purpose of unit- 
ing all religious denominations in brotherly love, and for the purpose of building a 
church in which its members may assemble and worship God. No by-laws shall 
be passed that conflict with the following rules : — 

“ First, any person is permitted to join this church regardless of any church or 
congregation that they may already belong to. They may remain and stand in full 
membership in any church or denomination that they may already belong to, or 
that they may hereafter join, and at the same time stand and remain in full mem- 
bership and brotherhood and sisterhood and in pure love and unity in this Union 
church. Any brother or sister of this Union church, if a member of any other 
church or denomination, shall have the right to bring any minister of their denomi- 
nation in to said Union church to preach, at any hour of the day or night that they 
may choose, when an appointment has not already been announced, for the occupa- 
tion of said church at said hour. Provided that said minister shall not teach the 
abandonment of other churches or creeds in order to promote the welfare or pro- 
gress of the denomination to which said preacher may belong; and when a minister 
violates these provisions he shall be excluded from said Union church. 

“Second, all brothers or sisters that may join said church, must abstain from 
profane language and should try to teach others to do the same ; and they must 
also live in obedience to the ten commandments, to the best of their judgment and 
knowledge gained by studying the teaching in the Bible. The members are com- 
manded to keep the Sabbath holy. In fact the desire and motto of our church is 
that all brethren and sisters shall live a true religious life to the best of their 
judgment and belief. 

“Third, it is resolved that the body of said Union church shall have power to 
create any office and elect officers who shall have power to transact any and all 
business for said church according to its by-laws, except the deeding and mortgag- 
ing of said church property, No church property shall be deeded away, or 
mortgaged, except by a two-thirds majority vote of all the members present for the 
purpose of such voting, and no such voting or election shall be held until notice 
has been given in some county newspaper at least two weeks previous to said 
meeting. It is also resolved that on the 30th day of March of each year an annual 
meeting shall be held for the purpose of electing officers and transacting other 
business that may come before it. Resolved that said church or congregation shall 
make no by-laws that will annul or violate this constitution except it is made as 
an amendment to said constitution by a two-thirds vote of all the members of said 
Union church.” 

Chas. H. Sanders, Lowell, Ind.; J. E. Caster, Eliza Stoweil, Stewart Stowell, 
Adda Cross, Chas. G. Brown, Edwin Sanders, Samuel Sirois, Mat Cross, James 
Reed, W. H. Ray, P. H. Zea, and Frank Fuller, all of Shelby, Ind., have signed the 
constitution as members of this church. The meeting was then adjourned. 

March 30, 1896, the members of said Union church met for the purpose of 
electing their officers. The meeting was called to order by J. E. Caster. Meeting 
opened by the following prayer offered by C. H. Sanders : — 

“ Heavenly Father, we have organized for the purpose of bringing all religious 
denominations into one house and under one roof in this world as well as in the 
world to come. Heavenly Father, if our designs are righteous in the sight of God, 
open our understanding that we may better know how to direct this work to good 


THE UNION CHURCH. 


219 


purpose. Heavenly Father, if our designs are good in the sight of God, guide our 
minds to every point that will aid in our work. If our works are righteous in the 
sight of thee, O God, be a light to our footpath as thou wast to the footpath of 
Moses. But if our works are evil in the sight of God let them go down and be 
forever forgotten. But, O God, if our works are good in thy sight, open the 
understanding of every true Christian that they may want to unite with their 
brother Christian in religious worship. Amen.” 

J. E. Caster, Mat. Cross and James Reed were elected as trustees. Sam. Sirois, 
treasurer, and Edward Sanders, secretary. Said officers were elected for a term of 
one year according to constitution. No other business coming up the meeting 
adjourned. 

If you want a church building to be free to the use of two or more 
religious denominations, you must first organize an assembly, give it a name, 
form a constitution, give ten days’ notice in a county newspaper, of its 
meeting for the election of its officers, record it in the county records, in the 
county in which the church is to be built, then a deed running to such an 
organization will be valid : otherwise a deed will be void. 



1. A1 - migh - ty Ma - ker, God, 

2. The lark mounts up the sky, 

3. De - scend, ce - les - tial fire, 

4. That when my book is read, 

5. Come, let us walk to-gether, 


How glo - rious is thy name, 
With un - am - bi - tious song, 
And cause me to ' a tone 
My God may say, “well done,” 
Lay creed and name a - side, 


mil 




— * 1 - 






Thy won - ders how diffused a - broad, Thro’out ere 

And bears her Ma-ker’s praise on high, Up - on her 

For all the ev - ils of de - sire, By cov-’nant 

May place a crown up - on my head, And seat me 

Less clasp the hand of one an - other, Like brothers 


-a - tion’s frame, 
art - less tongue, 
of my own. 
with his Son. 
on the tide; 


7 

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v* r 1 1 


For ev - ’ry na - tion’s sake, Spread forth thy se - cret still, 
Fain would I raise and sing, To my Cre - a - tor too; 

That I may wor - ship thee, The rem - nant of my days, 

Come, strive to gain his throne, Come, cov - ’nant with the Lord, 

Less frame and build to -gether, A house to shel - ter all, 



2: 

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That each a cov - e - nant shall make, To do their Mas - ter’s will. 
Fain would my heart a - dore my King, And give him prais - es due. 
That un - to God my soul may flee, In sweet per-fumes of praise. 
Come, let us make his will our own, Less seek to heed his word. 
Who comes to hear the Sa - viour say, “ I ’m Christ, in great, or small.” 


CHAPTER XX. 


flow to love God, ana how to train your children to love God. 

In this chapter I will try to answer a statement made to me in a letter. 

My object in writing is to show to the young wives, and to the young 
mothers how to make their own homes happy ; and that they cannot begin too 
soon. And as I meet with many obstacles to hinder me, I also meet with 
much repugnance in aid. 

When I had written my first pamphlet, I got that pamphlet printed. 
When the printer had finished the printing, he wrote me a long but friendly 
letter: and in that letter he said, “Christian brother, you and I disagree in 
our views, but you have just as good a right to your views as I have to 
mine. But, brother, I am afraid that your work will not stand the crucial 
test, for in some places it disagrees with the Scriptures.” 

When I read this I only smiled, for I knew that I was not perfect, and I 
knew that I being imperfect — could not do perfect work : therefore I knew 
that my work could not be perfect. 

Then I asked two questions, first, What is the standard by which my 
work must be tested? My answer: Righteousness. Second, Who shall 
prove the tester? My answer: Righteous judgment. 

Then I turned to the world to look, and I said, there is not a person on 
the face of the earth that is perfect: then I said, there is not a writing on 
the face of the earth that is perfect; for no imperfect person, can do perfect 
writing. Then I picked up the blessed Bible, and I opened it to St. John 
20:26, and I read, “ after eight days again his disciples were within . . . . 
then came Jesus .... and stood in the midst.” And I said this is a pun: 
in the Bible we find a pun. 

One man says, ‘ ‘ this appearance of J esus was on Sunday, one week after 
his resurrection. Another says, that “this appearance of Jesus was on 
Monday, eight days after Jesus arose.” Whilst the third says, “it was 
after eight days had passed and gone : if it was after eight days it must have 
been on the ninth day.” 

I say it is a pun for us to tell, upon what day of the week this appear- 
ance of Christ was. It is generally thought that this appearance of Christ 
was on Sunday, one week after his resurrection; yet John does not definitely 
tell us so. 

Had J ohn been perfect, we could have looked for perfect writings, 
had his writings been perfect, they would contain no pun. He would 
not have told us “ after eight days” meaning the seventh day. 

I pronounced this a pun, and then I looked farther and found puns all 
through the Bible. I found conundrums all through the Bible. Then I 
thought that Grod inspires the mind of man, or woman, with his will, and 
then leaves human frailty to work whilst that man or woman writes down 
[ 220 ] 


PUNS IN THE BIBLE. 


221 


God’s inspirations. Then I said we go to extremes in saying that every word 
of the Bible is God's word just as God wanted it written. 

Now I say that the Holy Bible is God’s word, the best that human frailty 
could give it: though the writer was not perfect, therefore we must use 
righteous judgment in studying its words. 

The Bible is God’s word, the best that human frailty could give it, and 
we must obey its righteous teachings, if we expect to receive the reward 
that Christ promised us: But, when we read in the Bible, that just men had 
concubines, we must remember that human frailty was mixed in. And when 
we study the words of the Testament, Old or New ; we must shun frailty, and 
seek after righteousness. 

Now as the Bible writers have not written every word of the Bible per- 
fect, so that we can understand every word without pondering over them, 
I ask ; do I disagree with the will of God ? or, does human frailty disagree 
with me ? and condemn my writing, unjustly ? 

Now may I say that all that God ever inspired into the mind of Moses, was 
righteousness: for Moses to teach to the world that they should walk in 
godliness — that they should teach godliness to their fellow beings, and that 
they should willingly try to live in accordance to God’s will. And let me 
sa y that Moses, being a man that had never taken lessons, being the first 
teacher of the kind ever on earth — he did exceedingly well. He taught his 
own people, better than you or I could, and invited the stranger to come 
and learn, also. 

All that God ever inspired into the mind of Jesus and his apostles, was 
that very same righteousness, and that they should teach that very same 
righteousness, to the very same world, and from the very same God: That 
they should walk in the very same godliness, and teach their fellow beings 
to also walk in godliness. God never changed his mode of godliness. 

As Moses’ teachings did not prevail fast enough, he tried to compel his 
people to be righteous, and walk in godliness. But as the world had 
become much greater enlightened, and as Moses had already tried compul- 
sion, it now was of necessity to have much greater teachings than Moses 
was capable of giving, and Jesus was endowed with that greater power, and 
gave greater teachings: And all that Jesus taught us, was that we should 
serve that very same God, by walking in that same line of godliness 
that Moses taught, described in the ten commandments. But many of the 
roots and branches of this righteous path, are yet unfolded, and the duties 
of our preachers to-day should be to study righteousness, to teach right- 
eousness, and to live righteously regardless of conflicts. 

God is godliness, contained in purity of the mind, and found in all 
manner of godly actions. 

To love God is to love godliness. It makes no difference what creed, 
what church, or what name a preacher supports, if he teaches the people 
what is godliness, — how to live in — and how to cultivate godliness, and 
how to root out and keep out ungodliness, he is a righteous teacher, 
regardless of conflicts. It is impossible for righteousness to conflict with 


222 


HOW ARE WE LED ? 


righteousness, but things that have no bearing, neither for, or against right- 
eousness, their conflicts can have no bearing on righteousness, even though 
they may be found between the lids of the Bible. It is not what you call 
Bible that you want to live up to, but it is righteousness, whether found in 
the Bible or out of the Bible. In reality righteousness is scripture whether 
written, printed or verbal : and a righteous mind can tell righteousness from 
wickedness. 

For a child to push its playmate down through meanness, is unrighteous- 
ness ; for a child to pinch or hurt its playmate, is unrighteousness ; for a 
child to wilfully disobey, or disregard its mother’s word, is unrighteousness ; 
for a child to twist the legs, pinch the tail, or jam the ribs, of a pup, or a 
kitten, is unrighteousness ; for a child to throw itself down, and scream and 
kick because it can’t do those things, is unrighteousness ; for a child to steal 
even the value of a corn-cob from its playmate, is unrighteousness ; for a 
child to do any mischief and lie about it, is unrighteousness ; for a mother to 
permit her child to do any of those things, is to permit the devil to rob the 
spirit, whilst she robs the flesh. To love to see those little ones shun those 
unrighteous acts, is to love godliness : to look upon those little blooming 
faces, and love to see them do those acts of godliness, is the sweetest, 
purest love for God — or Christ, that the human heart ever experienced. 
And the mother that has this kind of love for her child, has pure and undefiled 
love, from God. When I was raising my boys, I learned them, whatever 
mischief they might do, if they came and told me the truth about it, that 
mended it : but if they lied about it, that made a double crime of it, and 
made them subject to double punishment. They seldom needed the double 
punishment. 

For a child to club and hurt little birds is unrighteousness ; for a child 
to strike and hurt even toads, or snakes, is unrighteousness ; to kill those 
things is no sin, for they are destructive to our crops, or damage us some 
other way ; but to hurt them and let them go to suffer, is unrighteousness. 

We look upon all of those things as little trifling things, not worthy of 
notice ; and they are from a little trifling mind not worthy of notice ; but 
dear mother those little trifling minds grow to be great trees , and those little 
trifling things are the roots and branches of that great tree ; and if those evil 
roots and branches are kept pruned off, and grubbed out, whilst this little tri- 
fling mind is young and tender, it will grow to be a great tree of life, a great 
tree of everlasting life. Those little trifling things are only snags for those 
little minds to stub their toe against. They are kept out, and cannot be 
found in the true path of righteousness, and the mother that trains her chil- 
dren to walk in this righteous path, has accomplished more Christianity than 
the preacher that has preached to — and as they say — converted scores of 
men after their tree is grown. 

We cannot raise our children perfect, but the nearer that we get them to 
perfection, the more Christianity — the greater the tree of life. But again 
we must teach them that they are living among sinners who will lie and 


HOW TO LOVE GOD. 


223 


deceive them. Because they are taught to tell the truth they must not 
believe all that is told them. 

On the mother’s part, the mother telling a child to obey or the black man 
will carry it off, is unrighteousness ; and the child soon learns to know it. 
Tell the child to obey or the mother will compel it to obey, and then the 
mother should compel it to obey, and without anger. For a mother to lie to 
her child about Santa Claus, is unrighteousness. If a child has judgment 
good enough to detect who Santa Claus is, it is no worse for that child to 
know, than it is for grown people to know, and it is wrong to compel that 
child to lay aside its own judgment to believe, what it will afterward learn 
to know is a lie, from its mother’s mouth. 

The mother that learns her child to walk in godliness, learns it to love 
godliness, and the child that loves godliness, must love God. 

No person need depend upon Christ taking them to heaven, but they 
must depend upon the righteousness in which they walk. For righteousness 
is godliness, godliness is Christianity, Christianity is Christ and Christ is 
God. To walk in righteousness, is walking in God. 

Now let me ask, do I disagree with the Scriptures, when I say let one 
hand wash the other ? Are the teachings of Jesus Scriptures ? Bid not 
Jesus teach us to take in his gospel teachers free of charge ? And when I 
say let the preachers pay their way do not I disagree with the Scriptures ? 
And then let me ask, do not our ministers disagree with the teachings of 
Jesus, which is Scriptures — when they are a asking $1,200 or $1,500 a 
year for their service in the pulpit? For many years past, have not our 
ministers disagreed with the Scriptures, when they have taken their annual 
salary ? And then they are ready to tell me that I disagree with the Scrip- 
ture. I say stone me, and ‘ £ let those that are without sin cast the first 
stone.” 

In the beginning of my book, I said that my book was not perfect, for 
no human being can do perfect work, unless they are perfect of themselves. 
Yet I say that my work is of the inspiration of God, given to frail man, 
and man left to write it down. And the righteous teachings of the whole 
Bible, was inspired from the very same God, and the man that wrote it 
down, was a living under human frailty just the same as I. Every thought 
that enters into the human mind, is guided by God, or by Satan ; therefore 
every thought is the inspiration of God, or the inspiration of Satan, either 
direct, or indirect, 

Man and woman were created in perfect freedom of mind, and are still 
left in that freedom of mind to choose for themselves which they will fol- 
low, the inspiration of God, or the Inspiration of the devil. 

There is none that upholds the righteous teachings of the Bible closer 
than I do; yet , there are things written in the Bible that would be better if 
they were in a book by themselves. 

I claim that the mind of man, and of woman, is what God created in his 
own image : the mind of man and woman is what God talks to when he talks 


224 


HOW ARE WE LED ? 


to man: the mind of man and woman, is what God talks about, when he 
talks about man: and the mind is inherited fiom the mind of the mother: 
and the mind is what the mother can cultivate from its infancy: And the 
mind of woman is included in God’s talk just the same as the mind of man, 
God knows no difference between man and woman. 

To this last assertion human frailty widely disagrees with me, even the 
Bible writers said that woman must keep still, and ' ‘ ask their husbands at 
home.” That was Paul, and the women must not disagree with the Scrip- 
ture. 

The Bible does not tell us that the mind is what God created in his im- 
age, neither does it tell us that the mind is not what he created in his own 
image, how can I disagree with the Bible where the Bible is silent? 

I know that God talks with the mind of man — and woman, but only 
with those w T ho are ready, willing, and prepared, to receive his talk. Also 
Satan has the very same power, with his listeners. 

I once visited the Bang sisters in Chicago, Illinois. They are two spiri- 
tual mediums. I am not a spiritualist, but any person can visit those sisters 
and prove my words to be true. I claim that those ladies are inspired, 
either by God, or by Satan. 

I wrote three questions on paper, to my departed friend, before entering 
their house. I folded those papers, entered their house, and sat down by 
the side of a table: one of those ladies sat down at the end of that table, 
took a slate on her lap under the table, and brought it out with a perfect 
answer to my questions written on it, without her touching my papers. I 
came home, and my son said, (t O ! she is a mind reader, she read your 
mind and answered your questions just as you wanted them answered.” To 
this I said good and well, then the mind of man must have power over the 
mind of his fellow being, to inspire into that mind just the answer that 1 
may want : Has not God a much greater power than man to perform this 
inspiration into the human mind ? Others say, “ O ! she is a mesmerizer, 
she mesmerized you that you could not see her, then she took your ques- 
tions and read them, and answered them according to their reading.” To 
this I said all right, then her mind must have power over my mind to mes- 
merize me, and show me things that she could not show me were I not 
mesmerized. Has not God a much greater power to mesmerize man and 
show him things that he could not see otherwise ? Then others say, that 
it was the works of the devil, for the Bible teaches us that God talked with 
man, and woman must keep still.” To this I said very good, if the devil has 
this power, has not God equal power ? And again did not Jesus teach us 
that there is neither male or female with the Spirit, ‘ ‘ they neither marrv, 
nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels in heaven.” 

I claim that the mother gives inheritance to the mind of the offspring, 
in the mother’s situation in life, she has much the greatest power to cultivate 
the mind of that offspring in its infancy : therefore the burden of the crime 
rests upon the shoulders of the mother of the criminal. 

Below I will give, as advice to all young mothers — a letter which I 


LETTER TO A NIECE. 


225 


wrote to a niece: hoping that all mothers will learn that it lies in theii 
power — if they only begin in time — to save their children from trouble. 

April 1st, 1897, a. d. 

Dear niece, you are married now, please allow me to ask you to look 
back to your mother’s trouble over her boys, and then remember that the 
burden of the crime lies upon the shoulders of the mother. The crime itself 
lies upon the criminal, but the oppression, that the mother could have pre- 
vented it, rests upon the shoulders of the mother, (a stitch in time, saves 
nine. ) 

If your mother had learned her boys to strictly obey her commands — to 
strictly obey their father’s commands, and to strictly obey their teacher’s 
commands, from their birth to their youth, and early manhood ; to-day they 
would obey God’s commands. To-day, instead of your mother seeing 
trouble over her boys, she would take comfort and pleasure with them: To- 
day she would be a reaping the reward that Jesus promised her, “not only 
in this world, but that also which is to come.” “ For we receive the due re- 
ward of our deeds ” done in the body. 

Dear niece, if you would enjoy the blessings that Jesus has promised, if 
you ever raise any boys, remember the troubles that parents have over their 
boys : and then learn your boys to strictly obey the commands of their par- 
ents, and their teachers, from infancy to early manhood, then you shall re- 
ceive God’s promise. And remember, the younger the child the greater 
effect hath the training. 

Don’t be afraid to whip your child when he deserves it, “if you spare 
the rod, you spoil the child.” Never whip your child when you are angry, 
then there is no fear of injuring your child, but remember when you are not 
angry, “ if you spare the rod you spoil the child.” 

Of course you cannot see the trials and anxiety that your mother has ex- 
perienced for her girls, but girls should be raised with the same care and 
prudence as that of boys, then they will be a comfort and a blessing to their 
mother, and an angel in the sight of God. But remember that a child 
grown up in all kinds of indulgence is like the tare grown wild in the pasture, 
and cannot be changed to our taste after they are once grown. 

A mother may belong to a church, may attend church regular, may pray 
to Jesus, and make great prayers for her child, speak, sing, and worship 
Jesus constantly, yet, if she says that no father, no stepfather, nor school- 
teacher, can ever make one of her children mind, you may know that that 
woman does not love God : For no mother can love God and not love godli- 
ness, no mother can love godliness and at the same time love to see her chil- 
dren outside of obedience, no mother can love God and at the same time love 
to train her children to walk outside of God’s righteous path. Neither can 
any preacher, or any other person love God, and at the same time be a trying 
to put down and depress others who are a trying to do — or to teach others to 
do godliness, — just because they wear a different name, or live under a dif- 
ferent creed. 


15 


226 


HOW ARE WE LED ? 


Neither did Paul love God when he was a trying to put to death those 
that were a trying to teach godliness as Jesus taught it, regardless of what 
was written in the books called Scriptures The only way that any one can 
love God is to love godliness, but we must not think that all must do their 
righteous work just in accordance with our judgment. Each person must do 
in accordance with their own judgment, and if their judgment is not as good 
as ours let God be their judge. 

Let me quote a few words that a candidate once gave in his canvassing 
lectures, he was a speaking from experience. It shows the mother how the 
young mind may be led astray: with earthly things we can see our deception, 
with spiritual things we cannot see them. 

In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. From omnipo- 
tent hand were flung the countless worlds that people space. Out of nothing 
he created all things. But fellow citizens , we have no record that Jehovah 
ever delegated this creative power to mortal man. When I urns a ... . boy , 
I read a remarkable story of one Aladdin , and a certain lamp. He could rub 
that wonderful lamp and create things. I resolved that I would get one of 
those lamps at any and all costs. As I grew older I found that the story 
was a fake , and that my youthf id, confiding nature had been grossly im- 
posed upon. 

Dear niece, many a young mind has thus been grossly imposed upon, and 
many never outgrow that imposition. But we must learn that this world is 
full of deception, we must look and see if those things look reasonable. We 
must learn to lay aside those ideas formed in youth, and lean upon right- 
eous judgment. It is told to the youthful mind, that the boy that is raised 
the strictest in righteousness, makes the wildest man. This is positively a 
delusion from the devil, yet it is hard to get this idea out of the human 
mind, even though they cannot show an instance where it has proven true. 
They will allude to some preacher that has neglected his own boys to preach 
to others. Righteous judgment tells us that it is just as hard to make a 
crooked man out of a straight boy, as it is to make a crooked tree out of a 
straight sapling. 

Study this letter and use righteous judgment. 

Your uncle, 

C. H. S. 


CHAPTER XXI. 

When is the Holy Ghost given to man ? Which has the greatest power, God or 
the devil ? Calling God a great mind, calling Satan a great mind, calling man a 
great mind in whose image is man ? 

In looking over a newspaper, my eyes fell upon the arrest of a young 
man for stealing. His mother stated that her son was not accountable for 
his stealing, for it was natural for him to steal. The paper stated her 
remarks thus : — 


god’s power and the devil’s power compared. 


227 


James can't help stealing. Mg husband was a drinking man , and spent 
his money in the saloo?is. 'When I was carrying James , I was constantly 
watching and planning how to steal my husband's money , and would steal 
all that I could get hold of. It is natural for James to steal , and he is not 
to blame for it. 

This woman had the same idea that I have, that the nature is formed in 
the mind, and is inherited from the mother, — that the burden of the sin 
rests upon the shoulders of the mother, though the criminal must pay the 
penalty of the crime. 

ftev. Joseph Fay, in writing his Catholic belief, said : — 

Page 28. Original sin is distinguished from actual , or personal sin , in 
this — that actual or personal sin is the sin which ice personally with our 
own free will commit , whilst original sin is that which our human nature 
commits. 

Jesus said, “Wisdom is justified by her children.” Matt. 11:19. 
Even so iniquity is cursed by her children. Ex. 20:5. “Visiting the 
iniquities of the fathers upon their children” is the inheritance of the par- 
ents. The mother gives inheritance of her own disposition without knowl- 
edge thereof, but she will give inheritance of her husband’s disposition, or 
of any one else’s disposition, through hatred, or through extreme love, or 
through excitement But, after the disposition is inherited, it depends 
greatly upon cultivation : and the first two years are the main ones for this 
cultivation. 


I must dwell a little more on my disa- 
greeing with the Scriptures. 

In writing of the Holy Ghost, if I say 
that the Holy Ghost was given before 
Jesus was born, I disagree with John’s 
writings which are Scriptures. If I say 
that the Holy Ghost was not given until 
after Jesus was born, I disagree with 
the writings of Mark and Luke, which 
are also Scriptures. 

What shall I do to avoid disagreeing 
with the Scriptures ? How can this con- 
flict be avoided? I will tell you what I 
shall do. I shall say that John was not 
perfect, neither is his writings perfect. 


John 7 : 37. Jesus stood and cried, 
saying, if any man thirst, let him come 
unto me, and drink. 

39. ( But this spake he of the Spirit, 
which they that believe on him should 
receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet 
given: because that Jesus was not yet 
glorified.) 

Luke 1- 13. The angel said unto him, 
fear not Zacharias .... thy wife Elisa- 
beth shall bear thee a son, and thou 
shalt call his name John. 

41. And Elisabeth was filled with the 
Holy Ghost. 

67. And .... Zacharias was filled 
with the Holy Ghost. 

2 : 25. And .... Simeon .... waiting 
for the consolation of Israel: and the 
Holy Ghost was upon him. 

Mark 12 : 35. And Jesus .... said .... 
How say the scribes that Christ is the 
son of David? 

36. For David himself said by the 
Holy Ghost, the Lord said to my lord. 


John said that the “Holy Ghost was not yet given: because Jesus was not 
yet glorified. ” Had John have said that the Holy Ghost was not yet given 


228 


HOW ARE WE LED ? 


to those particular men, I would have nothing to say, but when those Bible 
writers conflict with themselves, may I also conflict. 

Now if human frailty prohibits me from fully explaining my righteous 
points, as was the case with John, I truly ask my readers to exercise their 
own judgment, and if my writings conflict with the scriptures of the apos- 
tles, I farther ask that righteous judgment be used as to where the frailty 
lies. 

Let us not go to extremes in saying that every word of the New 
Testament was the inspiration of God, thus putting the entire weight on 
God. 

Let us say that the righteous Scriptures were inspired into the mind of 
man, but after they were inspired into man, Satan was still loose to exercise 
his power, and the writer could not watch himself close enough to write 
every word to perfection. 

When man or woman, old or young, fully prepare themselves to receive 
the Holy Ghost, they will receive it, just the same to-day, as in, or before the 
days of Jesus. 

When man or woman, old or young, fully prepare themselves to receive 
inspiration they will receive it, just the same to-day, as in, or before, the days 
of the apostles. But we must remember that the devil also has this power 
of inspiring, and must be watched. The devil is humane frailty. We are 
all prone to yield to human nature. Jesus said : “The Spirit is willing, but 
the flesh is weak.” 


As for writers, there never was a per- 
fect writer on the face of the earth. 
If there ever was a perfect writer he was 
ahead of Jesus, and should receive as 
high honor as Jesus. If they were not 
perfect, and should not receive such 
honor, why should we say that their 
writings are perfect. 

Jesus never done any writing, at 
least we have no record to show that he 
ever left a pen mark on the earth. Had 
he have done his own writing we might 
say that we had perfect writing. 


John 7:14. Jesus went up into the 
temple, and taught. 

15. And the Jews marveled, saying, 
How knoweth this man letters, having 
never learned? 

16. Jesus answered them, and said, 
My doctrine is not mine, but His that 
sent me. 


As we have concluded that the human being is guided and governed 
by God, or by the devil, we will examine the power of God, togetner with 
that of the devil, and see which has the greatest power. 

The Bible tells us that God said, “ Let us create man in our own image.” 
Our preachers say that Jesus Christ was with God at the creation. To this I 
must disagree. I must say that Christ was not with God, but was God, as 
well at that time as later. It was Christ that made the remark, for Christ 
was God — or a part of God. The Bible is silent as to who God was 
talking to. Can I conflict Scripture where there is no Scripture ? I shall 
take the stand that God is a great mind, or Spirit : and as we can see noth- 


god’s power and the devil’s power compared. 


229 


ing in this world, except it meets with more or less antagonism, I look for 
antagonism before the creation. I shall take the stand that Satan was a 
great mind also, in direct opposition to God : sly, deceitful, hatred, and 
pollute in general. I shall say that God is a great mind of purity, and when 
the human mind — man or woman — becomes pure, it is endowed with the 
Holy Ghost : that is, he, or she, takes on a part of the mind of God. In the 
days of Moses, when a man’s or woman’s mind became pure, he was endowed 
with a part of the mind of that very same God, he was endowed with that 
very same Holy Ghost, Righteousness. As intellect grew, it required more 
of God’s holy power to guide it, as this power grew in strength its name 
changed, the same as the religious name. In early days, when a person 
became just, they became a child of God : later on, when they became truly 
righteous, they became a child of the very same God. Still later on, when a 
person became an Israelite, they became a child of the very same God : and 
still later on, when they became Pharisees ( not Sadducees ), they became a 
child of the very same God : and still lastly, when they become a Christian, 
they become a child of the very same God. As intellect kept a growing, 
religion kept a growing also, and kept a changing its name, and we can look 
back and see that those names have truly been disgraced, by those that we 
call hypocrite, or Sadducees: even the name “Christian” is greatly 
disgraced by the hypocrite. 

In olden days, Moses tried by national laws, to compel all of his subjects 
to become children of God; and so made many Sadducees, or infidelic 
hypocrites. Later on, Constantine — by national laws — also tried to compel 
his subjects to become children of God, with the same effect, making many 
hypocrites. 

Moses’s nation was called the Hebrew nation, it was also called the Israel- 
itic nation, (God’s children): all nations that were not composed of God’s 
children, were called Gentile nations, (sinners). Our people — in the pres- 
ent day — are called, the American nation, and, a Christian nation. All 
nations that do not comprise God’s children, are called heathen nations ; just 
the same as the old nations, only different names. 

As I said, I shall take the stand that God, — at the creation — was a 
great mind of purity, no son in company with him. Then I shall take the 
stand, that Satan, also, was a great mind, of pollution, and that it was Satan 
that was in company with God, at the creation: That it was Satan to whom 
God said, “let us make man in our own image.” And to try the weight of 
God’s power, together with that of the power of Satan, we will watch the 
human mind, as we go along. 

To begin with, God created the heavens and the earth, and put them in 
their motion: and they remain to-day unchangeable: Satan has no power over 
them. God made the trees, plants, and herbs, and put them in their pure 
nature, and regardless of Satan’s power, they still grow in that pure nature. 
God created the beast of the field without skill or judgment, they have a 
mind, and Satan shows himself in their mind, through their actions ; yet he 
has no power to change them from God’s creation. God created the fowls 


230 


HOW ARE WE LED ? 


of the air with a mind, but without skill or judgment, and Saian shows him- 
self in them, with the same powerless effect. But last of all, God said let 
us create man in our own image. Christ and God w r ere one, God said “ us.” 
Satan and God were two, and in direct opposition. God is a great mind of 
kindness, Satan is a great mind of cruelty ; in whose image is the mind of 
the majority of the human being, called the mind of man ? God is pleasant- 
ness, Satan is disagreeableness; in whose image is the human being, called 
the mind of man? God is love, Satan is hatred: how is the majority of the 
human being here? God is purity, Satan is pollution: how is the majority 
of man here? God is mildness, Satan is harshness: how is the majority of 
man, woman, and child? all is called man, with God. God is skilfulness, 
Satan is wanton: Is the mind of man “ in our own image” here? God is 
quietness, Satan is ruffleness: how is the majority of the human being on 
this point? God is unity, Satan is separation; Look at the old people here, 
though, with God, all are called man. Whatever is God, that is Christ, is 
man in the image of Christ? God is happiness, Satan is infelicity: how do 
we find the majority of the human mind on this point. God is cleanness, 
Satan is sinful: “ Wash me, and make me, whiter than snow.” God is 
certainty, Satan is dubious: Who takes man’s word as a certainty to-day? 
God is worthy, Satan is worthless: How is the word of all mankind on this 
point? look at them before they are off their mother’s knee. God is truth- 
fulness, Satan is falseness; the human tongue is governed by the human 
mind. God is merciful, Satan is inhuman ; look at the heathen as well as at 
the Christian, then look at your little children, that treats the little birds, 
the pups, and the kittens with inhumanity. God is faithful, Satan is perfid- 
ious: seek for the faithful one on earth. God is easiness, Satan is restless- 
ness: do we find the human being restless? God is veracious, Satan is 
deception: If we trust to veracity in the human being, do we get left? God 
is divinity, Satan is diabolicalness: In looking at our spiritual being separate 
from our material body, can we say our divine being? or should we say our 
diabolical being? Every person has two beings, they have a body of matter, 
and in addition to this, we must have a divine being, or a diabolical being. 
God is virtue, Satan is profligate: look at all human beings, and place the 
majority where they belong: God is ability, Satan is impotent in all of God’s 
creation, except the human being, of which he was made a partner in their 
ruling at their creation. 

Christ’s own words, “I and the Father are one.” “He is in me and I 
in him.” “He that hath seen me hath seen the Father.” He, or she, that 
is in the image of Christ, is in the image of God, for Christ and God are one. 
If I am in the image of God, and you are in the image of Christ, you and I 
must be alike, and as one, for God and Christ are one. 

I ask righteous judgment; if Christ was God, alike God, and one in all 
purity that we have just gone over, all one in mind and in spirit, did God 
say to Christ “let us make man in our own image,” which is one? or did 
God say to a different and separate being, “let us make man in our own im- 
age.” Hid God create man in the image of one divine being? or did he ere- 


god’s power and the devil’s power compared. 231 

ate man in the image of two different beings? And which of those great be- 
ings do we mostly resemble? 

We will look a little farther at those great powers by studying human na- 
ture. 

In studying human nature, we find that a person that is intoxicated 
plainly shows their disposition — they show what they are, but whilst they 
are sober they will cover their disposition with deception, and appear much 
better than they really are at heart. We also find that a man that is adapted 
to pilfer, is always ready to cry thief, even though he has to make a false 
report, to make the cry. A man that is always ready to fault the table that 
is furnished at other’s expense, never set a good table at his own expense. 
A man that is always a telling that some one else is a liar, you may look for 
false in his own mouth. Just so with the woman, you find a woman that is 
always a telling of some fault in her neighbor, nine times out of ten, you can 
find that woman to be full of the same faults. You find a person that is 
quiet and still in their talk, and you will find one that is a deep thinker, and 
when you get him or her to express their judgment on anything, you will 
generally find their judgment good. 

God created the trees, and a path of nature for them to grow in ; they 
have their bark according to nature, they must have their sap according to 
nature, and they have their leaves, their buds, their limbs, according to na- 
ture, but they have no mind in themselves, and Satan has but little power 
over them : But when the mind of man steps in, and puts his great machin- 
ery to work, then Satan’s power is great, even over the trees plants and 
herbs of God’s creation. God created the great mountains, as pure in their 
nature to-day, as in the day that they were created, they have no mind of 
their own, and Satan has but little power over them: but when the mind of 
man steps in and puts his great machinery to work, great destruction begins. 
God creates this mortal body of man, and of itself without any mind, Satan 
has but little power over it, though it is the greatest machinery ever in- 
vented, yet without the mind it is a mute body of matter, but when the mind 
of Satan steps in, he has great pow r er over it. The mind of Satan without 
the combination of this great machinery, has but little power over any of 
God’s creation. When God created this body of matter — this great ma- 
chinery, he created a path of nature for this great machinery to walk in, the 
same as the path of nature for all other of his creation, and whilst in that 
path of nature all is well. We will watch this path of nature. 

Now let us place fifty of the children of God, and fifty of the children of 
Satan side by side, and watch them. We find them to accumulate property 
one equal with the other, but the child of Satan will steal from the children 
of God, whilst a true child of God will not steal from the children of Satan, 
therefore if either must starve it is the children of God. We find that the 
children of Satan will murder and kill the children of God, whilst a true 
child of God will protect the life of the children of Satan, thus giving the 
devil a great advantage here. 

Then we turn to the path of nature that God created for the mortal body 


232 


HOW ARE WE LED ? 


to walk in, and we find that every luxury entices the human being to follow 
after Satan. Then we turn to compulsion, we remember that God is free- 
dom, and Satan is bondage, and God created man in his own image, perfectly 
free to think and choose for himself whom he will serve, therefore God can- 
not drag a child of Satan into the path of righteousness, and compel them to 
be Christians, but Satan through the hands of this great machinery can take 
a child of God, drag her into the path of destruction, hold her in the path of 
destruction until she will forsake righteousness and adopt corruption, 

Now I ask righteous judgment, which has the greatest power, God, or 
Satan ? 

When they tell me that there is nothing impossible with God and Satan 
together I can say Amen. 

Of themselves alone, in every place that their power can be seen, God’s 
power is far superior to that of Satan’s, but when the great machinery of 
man steps in, invariably they choose to serve Satan, for a time at least, thus 
giving Satan’s power — in this world — far in excess to that of God. 

If a mother would raise a child in true Christianity, she must keep that 
child from public company, until that child is old enough to see and guide 
its own footsteps : for the devil’s great machinery visits all public places. 

Custom says, send your child out into company and let it learn some- 
thing. But this is only a decoy from the devil. For invariably the child 
will learn more evil than good. 

Experience says, in old company is the place to teach a child righteous- 
ness, and even there, the mother’s watchful eye cannot be too faithful, for 
Satan under the cloak of religion, loves the youth. 

Satan will lie and deceive the mother, and induce the child to affirm it. 
Satan will sneer and bluff the mother in a friendly manner. And Satan will 
use all possible means to decoy the mind of the youth. But my advice to 
the mothers is, stand firm to your post : keep quiet and cool, heed not their 
pleadings, but use your own judgment, if your judgment is poor, let God 
be your judge. Do what you think is best for your child, regardless of what 
others say. 

Satan is determined to carry his points regardless of right or wrong.. 
Christian mothers must be determined to carry their points in calmness. 

With a smile on your face, compel your infant children to obey your 
word, and you have conquered all. If j r our child learns that it has not 
got to obey your word, until your smile turns to a frown, it has learned 
to serve the devil. If you compel your child to obey you, in coolness, mild- 
ness, and kindness, even though you have to whip it, whip it with a smile on 
your face, then you have conquered Satan, and won the child’s confidence ; 
then you have greatly built up God’s power, and cut down the power of 
Satan. Mothers say, that is something that I could not do, I could not 
whip a child when I was not mad at it. Dear reader, the mother that whips 
the child when she is not mad, shows pure, and lasting love, for the spirit, 
and the spirit learns to protect the flesh. But the mother that cannot whip 
her child because she is not mad, shows flighty love for her child that will 


ANOTHER LETTER. 


233 


soon fade away, and perhaps wish her child out of her way before he is ten 
years old. Be determined to do right by your child, and to make your child 
do right by you. But do it coolly, calmly, and mildly : and then judge for 
yourself, which has the greatest power over you, God, or Satan. 

I will close this chapter by giving my first Christian letter to my wife. 

Dear Wife, Au S- 10 > 1896 ’ A - D ' 

Your card is at hand, you said that my words to you were so few 
that you thought that I had almost forgotten to write to you. Let me say dear 
wife, that I find no news to write to you so often, but let me say farther, 
that, I am a writer for God: If God’s teachings please you, I will try to 
write you longer letters: but if such writings displease you, I will have to 
write you on cards. 

If you want Christ to “wash you and make you whiter than snow,” 
remember that it is not your garments that Christ washes, neither is it the 
body that Christ washes ; it is neither the garment nor the body that Christ 
makes whiter than snow: but it is the spirit, — it is the mind that Christ 
makes so white. 

Ques. Dear wife, how does he wash the mind so white? 

Ans. It is you that has got to do the work: you have got> to drink in 
of the mind of Christ, then Christ will do the washing. 

Ques. Who furnishes the soap, and the water for this washing? 

Ans. Dear wife it is you that must furnish the soap, and it is you that 
must furnish the water. 

Ques. And how can you furnish the soap? 

Ans. Go to God in prayer, and say, Heavenly Father, I have committed 
this sin, or that sin, or all of those sins, of which I now lay aside. O God 
I will now lay all of those sins aside, and commit them no more. O God 
the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak. Heavenly Father help me to lay 
aside all anxiety and desire for committing those sins. 0 Heavenly Father 
with the help of God I will never commit those sins again. 

Then, dear wife, you have furnished the soap that Christ desires. You 
have made a covenant with God, and as long as you live up to your cove- 
nant, God will claim you as his child. 

Ques. Dear wife, how shall you furnish the water for Christ to wash you 
in, that he may make you whiter than snow? 

Ans. By constantly keeping your covenant in your mind, and by con- 
stantly trying to live up to your covenant. Then you will very soon know 
that Christ has washed those sinful desires away, and made you whiter than 
snow. 

Ques. How shall you know that Christ has washed you and made you 
whiter than snow? 

Ans. Be your own judge, look at yourself and see if you can meet God 
face to face, and say, I am made pure and am ready to come unto thee. 

Dear wife, now you shall be your own judge, no one shall be judge, but 
you and your God. You know when you can look your God in the face and 


234 


HOW ARE WE LED ? 


say, Heavenly Father, I have laid aside all of my sins and am ready to meet 
you. It makes no difference what your sins were before you made this cove- 
nant with God, if you have lived up to this covenant after you have made it, 
that is all that is required of you. But dear wife, remember that every one 
receives their reward according to the deeds done in the body, the longer 
that you put off your covenant, the less the reward. Also remember dear 
wife, that every one carries the keys of heaven, and of hell, in their own 
hands ; you can turn the keys either way that you please. 

Yours as ever 

G. H. S. 


CHAPTER XXII. 

Misunderstood God. God’s chosen number so definite that it cannot be decreased 

or increased. 

MISUNDERSTOOD GOD. 

I am a going to say that; God is greatly misunderstood. And in order to 
prove this, I shall ask the following questions. 

Ques. Who is that that we hear a talking? 

Ans. It is John Smith. 

Ques. Who is he a talking to? 

Ans. He is a talking to himself. 

Ques. What is he a talking about? 

Ans. He is a talking about what he is a going to do. 

Dear reader did you ever hear any one talk to himself? And did you 
ever hear any one talk about himself? 

God is a great mind, and Christ — the mind of Jesus, was a part of the 
mind of God, therefore Christ was God. Now as Christ was only a part of 
God, he was called the Son of God. Dear mother if you have that same 
mind in you that was in Jesus, you are a daughter of God. We are gener- 
ally called children of God, but if we have drank freely of that great 
mind so as to become Christians, we are sons and daughters of God. Now 
in order to become a child of God, we must have a part of the mind of God 
in our body. 

God talks to the righteous, whilst Satan talks to the sinner. You know 
whether you are a sinner or righteous, therefore if you receive such talk, you 
can tell whether it is from God or from the devil. 

When God talks to a righteous man, he talks to the righteous mind 

which is a part of his own mind, that is in that body: therefore God talks to 
himself. When God talks about a righteous man, he talks about the right- 
eous mind — which is a part of his own mind, that is in that body: therefore 
God talks about himself. God truly talks to himself, and about himself. 


GOD IS GREATLY MISUNDERSTOOD. 


235 


When Abraham became a righteous man, God endowed him with the 
Holy Ghost, that is, a portion of God’s mind entered into Abraham, and 
Abraham’s body became a dwelling place for that much of the mind of God. 

When God talked to Abraham, he talked to the mind of Abraham, there- 
fore he talked to himself. When God talked to others about Abraham, he 
talked about the mind of Abraham, therefore he talked about himself. 

When God talked with the prophets about Abraham’s seed, he talked 
about the seed of his own righteous Spirit — not about the seed of Abra- 
ham’s body. When God foretold of Christ’s scattering righteousness 
throughout the world, he foretold of the seed of his own righteous Spirit be- 
ing scattered. “And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and 
heirs according to the promise,” regardless of the seed of the flesh. Gal. 
3 : 29 . 

When God told Abraham that his seed should have eternal happiness, it 
was the seed of Abraham’s righteous mind that should share that happiness. 
When God told me to go to Michigan and there I would receive light, my 
body had something to do, my body did do, and my mind received the light. 
When God told Abraham that they should go to Canaan, their body had 
something to do, and when their body did that work, their mind received 
that light. But they misunderstood God, and they looked — and do to tlrs 
day, look for the fulfilment of the promise on the body, which has already 
been fulfilled to the mind. 

When God promised them that he would send Christ, he promised them 
that he would send the same righteous mind that was in Abraham, (the mind 
of God), when he sent Christ, he sent that mind of God, but a much larger 
quantity than what was in Abraham. But they misunderstood God, they 
thought that God would send them a great man in flesh — or stature, a man 
whose body would live and reign king forever. That was a great misunder- 
standing, and because he did not fill their anticipation, they crucified him. 
Our people are living under that great misunderstanding to-day : they are 
looking for a man to come in stature of flesh and bone — from the high 
heavens, to this earth — to live and reign as king — in flesh and bone — for- 
ever thereafter. 

They say that “this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, 
shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.” Acts 
1:11. And reign king in flesh and bone, forever thereafter. 

If man has power over his fellow man. that he can mesmerize the fellow 
man, and cause him to see and understand spiritually, what cannot be seen 
with the mortal eye, God has much greater power to influence this fellow 
man, to cause him to see what cannot be seen with the mortal eye. 

If those apostles were so influenced as to see the Spirit of J esus ascend 
up into heaven, — hear the voice of those angels, — which scene could not 
be seen or heard with the mortal eye or ear, — could not he come back in the 
very same manner that he went, and so fulfil the promise of those 
angels? 


236 


HOW ARE WE LED ? 


How many different times have we stood by the bedside, and heard the 
closing words of departing friend, exclaim : “I see J esus, I see my 
blessed Jesus ! ” or, “I see a fire,” similar to the fire that Moses saw on the 
burning bush? or to repeat, that “I see a light, oh, how light, and how 
bright, and how cool ? ” How many times have we had such testimony? 
How many times at an exciting meeting, have we heard the testimony given, 
that, “ I see Jesus, I see Jesus up in the sky.” O , how many times have we 
laughed over such expressions, yet have they not fulfilled the words of those 
two angels? To-day I say that Christ is on earth again, and is growing 
stronger every day, and the day is close at hand, that Christ will reign in the 
body of some being, as strongly as when he reigned in the body of Jesus. 

Even Abraham himself misunderstood God. Jacob and the whole Israel- 
itic nation misunderstood God, they recorded God’s promise, and tried to 
make it a positive fact that all of God’s promises were earthly promises. 
God was talking to the Spirit and about the Spirit, 

“I and the Father are one.” When God foretold of what Jesus was 
going to do, he only foretold of what he was going to do through the great 
machinery of some human being. 

When Jesus was born, he was the first piece of human flesh that we have 
any record of, that was strong enough — or rather, was free enough from 
Cain’s birthmark, to take in so great a portion of the mind of God, as he 
took in : therefore, Jesus was the great machinery to perform those 
miracles. 

But, to look a little farther at the misunderstanding of God’s teachings, 
we will pick up a little book called “Scott’s Synod of Dort.” 

Page 128. He willed that Christ through the blood of the cross, should, 
out of every people, tribe, and language , efficaciously redeem all those and 
those only who were from eternity chosen to salvation and given to him by 
the Father ; that he should confer on them the life of faith. 

This little book tells us that God made a covenant with Jesus, before 
Jesus was born, even before the earth was created : promising to create such 
an earth, and to inhabit such an earth with human beings, and that God 
would point out certain ones of those human beings for Christians, and, this, 
selection, should be made before the earth was created : Even 1 1 those and 
those only who were from eternity chosen. ” And that God made this selec- 
tion regardless of the desire of man, if a man happened to be one of the 
chosen, even though he had no desire to be a Christian Christ had to take 
him, for it is “those and those only.” If a man desire to be a Christian 
ever so much, if he was not chosen “from eternity,” Jesus Christ must- 
refuse him, for it is “those only, who were from eternity” chosen. 

This little book is a creed of a church, and when we turn to the 23d and 
24th pages, we find that this number is so “definite that it cannot be” 
changed. 

Pages 23 and 24. By the decree of God for the manifestation of His 
glory, some men and angels are predestinated into everlasting life, and 
others foreordained into everlasting death. Those angels and men, thus pre - 


GOD IS GREATLY MISUNDERSTOOD. 


237 


destinated and foreordained, are particularly and unchangeably designed ; 
and their number is so certain and definite that it cannot be either increased 
or diminished. 

The ministers of those churches will tell us that this selection is not 
grown “through foreseen faith obedience, good disposition, or good works 
of his own, but must be chosen of God; and only enough chosen to fill the 
coveted number and “ this number cannot be ” changed. They tell us that 
God softens the heart of those chosen and redeems them from sin, whilst all 
who were not particularly chosen by God, before the creation, are predesti- 
nated to remain in sin, and reap the reward of his sins. 

_ Page 24. Their number is so certain and definite that it cannot be either 
increased or diminished through foreseen faith , obedience, good disposition 
or good works of his own, but must be chosen of God ; and only enough 
chosen to fill the coveted number, and this number cannot be diminished or 
increased. 

He tells us so plain that we cannot misunderstand, that man has no power 
in himself to choose whom he will serve, God or Satan. ‘ ‘ Then Peter 
opened his mouth, and said, of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of 
persons: ” Acts 10 : 34. “ Behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with 

me, to give every man according as his work shall be.” Rev. 22 : 12. 

If those writers lay aside righteous judgment and then conflict with Peter 
and John, may I, trying to use righteous judgment, conflict with points that 
are immaterial to righteousness? 

Let me ask righteous judgment, if one of those preachers were to go into 
a little village of one hundred inhabitants, and God’s chosen number was so 
definite that ten of this village were to be Christians, and no more. This 
preacher finds those ten to be church- members when he goes there. But 
remember that ‘ ‘ their indwelling sins, their every-day sins, and short com- 
ings ” are no sins for them, for they are God’s chosen, they may be as rough 
as any in that whole village, but they are the elect: that preacher preaches 
there for a time and he causes fifty to come out and join the church, and 
may live a more righteous life than those ten. But, though they may be 
truer at heart — do better works than those ten, “they cannot enter heaven 
on their works,” “they are not of the elect,” and their “number is so defi- 
nite that it cannot be ” changed, is there a living person using their own 
judgment, that can believe any such doctrine? Then again let me ask, what 
is the object of having a preacher? He has not raised their number, he can- 
not raise their number, not even one; their number is so definite that only 
ten can enter heaven, though fifty have joined their church. I cannot see 
any object for a preacher under such faith. 

Again I must ask, is not God — here — greatly misunderstood? Let us 
not try to drive them from their belief, but show them our belief, and then 
leave them perfectly free to choose for themselves. 

Again let me ask can any one believe that God is a righteous God, and 
at the same time believe that he promised to make — and did make an earth 
and inhabit it with people, choose a part of those people to enjoy his throne, 


238 


HOW WE ARE LED? 


send preachers here to tell the rest, of this great happiness, and urge them 
to work for it, and at the same time send them to hell, in punishment, 
regardless of their righteous works, and then he sit on his throne and 
rejoice over their anguish, when they did their work to try to gain heaven? 
Righteous judgment says no, God forces no being into hell, neither does he 
force any one into heaven, but leaves all perfectly free to choose for them- 
selves, whom they will serve, God or the devil. 

You may ask, how is it that preacher’s sons are so apt to be profane 
men? The preacher that teaches us that those every-day sins, those in- 
dwelling sins, and short comings are no sin for his members, of course he 
feels that they are no sins for himself: therefore he indulges in those every- 
day sins at home in his every-day life. His boys are not raised in Christian- 
ity, they are compelled to go to church or Sunday-school, but as soon as 
they are out of church they are permitted to run into evils and every-day 
sins the same as other boys. He thinks they must enter into sin, and 
through the redemption of Jesus, they are saved. But, as a tree groweth 
so it must stand, if it grows in sin it must stand in sin, you may prune it 
up and make it better, but it will not be as perfect as one grown in 
perfection. 


CHAPTER XXIII. 

JUSTIFIED BY FAITH, IN ANOTHER BOOK. 

We will now open a little book entitled “Justified by Faith.” 

I have said that I don’t believe in trying to drive any one from their re- 
ligious belief, but all worship together, and you learn his faith and belief, 
and let him learn your faith and belief, with friendliness and kindness; and 
then each use your own judgment as to what is right, or righteous. Then 
you may ask me why I criticize those books? I answer, because my relig- 
ious opponents, give them to me as righteous authority that should not be 
denied. I only appeal to righteous judgment. 

I have tried to do something on my own part, not leaning on the cove- 
nant that Jesus made before the creation of the world, but making a cove- 
nant of my own, with God ; for the Bible tells us that God himself did not 
know at that time what man would do. ‘ ‘ And God saw that the wickedness 
of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of 
his heart was only evil continually. And it repented the Lord that he 
had made man on the earth.” Gen. 6:5, 6. 

I not depending upon the new covenant that was made before the old 
covenant was made, not trusting all to the noble confession that Jesus Christ 
was the true Son of God, but believing that Christ is God, the same to-day 
as he was when he was in the body of Jesus; and believing that his hand is 
stretched forth to man — or woman, as widely to-day as it ever was, made 
a new covenant for myself. 


CONFESSING THAT JESUS CHRIST IS THE SON OF GOD. 


239 


Page 6. That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus , and 
shalt believe in thine heart that God raised him from the dead , thou shalt be 
saved. 

This book is written by entirely a different denomination from the other, 
but they hold faith far above works, or righteous judgment. All that they 
have to do to pay the debt of their inbred sins, their every-day sins, is to 
say yes “Jesus was our Lord indeed;” and also believe, that, Jesus was 
actually dead, and that God raised him from the dead. 

Page 7. The Lord imputes unto the believer the righteousness of Christ 
and pronounces him righteous before the universe. He transfers his sins to 
Jesus , the sinner's representative , substitute , and surety. Upon Christ he 
lays the iniquity of every soul that believeth. 

This page shows us that we earn, and fall heir to a dwelling place in hell: 
and it tells us that Jesus becomes our substitute to fill that place for us. 
Why is it not just as easy to teach them to make their own covenant, and so 
atone for their own sins, as it is to give them such a teaching as this? It 
would be impossible for one person to substitute for as many as we believe 
go to heaven. They also teach us that Jesus does not go to hell, that he 
stays in heaven. This would make Jesus a bounty jumper: He substitutes 
to us to take our place in hell, and then he dodges it, thus swindling the devil 
out of his just dues. Swindling or bounty jumping is not recognized by 
God. Teach every one to make their own covenant, and atone for their own 
sins by trying to live up to their covenant, those that come the nearest to 
living up to their covenant will receive the highest reward. This is the 
truth, and when we teach the truth we will make a success, but when we 
teach all manner of deception, just to win them into the church, we only put 
stumbling-blocks in their way, for them to stumble over, and to stare at. 
We have had experience enough in Christianity, that we can testify to its 
grace, and speak the truth. 

Page 10. Christ is the end of the law for righteousness , to every one 
who believeth. 

Christ’s own words are those. ‘ f I did not come to destroy the law, but to 
fulfil it.” “If you love me do as I have done.” To get rid of your sins, 
is to “ do as I have done.” “He that keepeth my commandments shall have 
eternal life.” “I and the Father are one.” “ As the Father said unto me, 
so I speak.” “I know that his commandmemts are life everlasting.” 

Jesus did not teach us to depend upon faith, but to do as “he has done.” 

If we try to drink in of the mind of Christ, our own judgment will tell 
us what is right, and what is wrong. Your own mind will use that judg- 
ment when you meet your God, and your own mind will be your commender, 
or your condemner. 

Page 11. Through the works of the Holy Spirit, the sanctification of the 
truth , the believer becomes fitted for the courts of heaven. , Christ makes an 
end of the controlling power of sin in your heart. 

The works of your own being — works of your own body, and of your 
own mind, every minute of your life, are the works of the Holy Spirit, or the 


240 


HOW ARE WE LED ? 


work of the devil. If you are possessed of the Spirit of God, your works are 
of the Holy Spirit ; if you are possessed of the spirit of the devil, your works 
are of the devil ; therefore through your own works, if they are of the Holy 
Spirit, they make an end of your sins, but if your own works are not from 
the Holy Spirit, there is no end of your sins. Christ makes an end of the 
controlling power of j 7 our sins, if you have tried of your self to drink him 
in, so that he has a controlling power over your mind, but the whole works 
rest on your own shoulders, whether you will do as Christ wants you to 
or not. 

Page 62. I recognize this day's work as a great forward step toward the 
fulfilment of prophecy, the evangelization of the race and the inauguration 
of the millennium by the personal return of Jesus Christ to earth. 

As my mind is created in the image of God, which is freedom of 
thought, of course I exercise that freedom, in thinking : and expect my 
readers to do the same. Read what I write, but think what your judgment 
tells you is best. 

Christ stands ready — and always has stood ready to come back to this 
earth as fully as he was in the body of Jesus, whenever we are prepared to 
receive him. But the last words of the above sentence, are ; * £ the personal 
return of Jesus Christ to earth.” 

I shall now say that the spirit of man is composed of two parts. First, 
the seed of righteousness, is that part of the spirit that is formed in the 
infant mind by nature, as God created it. Second, the other part of the 
spirit, is the seed of sinfulness that the devil inspired into the mind of Eve, 
and has been inherited from the mother ever since. 

As for Jesus, his mother was a very righteous woman, and gave him a 
righteous inheritance to the Spirit of God, so that both parts of his spirit 
were from God; first, nature was from God, and second, the mother’s inherit- 
ance was from God. It was the mother that made Jesus fit for Christ to 
dwell in, and the mother ought to have the praise. His mother gave him 
righteous inheritance, and then she gave him righteous training, which 
started him up the path of righteousness that he followed to his crucifixion. 

Righteous inheritance, righteous training, and righteous practise made 
his body, his flesh, his blood, his bone, his muscle, and his nerve all in 
purity and virtue. When Jesus was arrested, undoubtedly every particle of 
his body was in perfect health and strength. He was marched from place to 
place, scorned, spit upon, smitten, and tortured in every way possible; led 
to the cross, nailed thereto, and suspended in one position until the last 
nerve of the body was completely vanquished. He was then taken down, 
wrapped in linen, and at the close of the preparation day, or near the be- 
ginning of the Sabbath he was lain in the tomb. And all that Sabbath he 
took the most perfect rest that man ever took, undisturbed by any human 
being, his only watchmen were the angels of heaven, watching over him as 
he rested “ upon the Sabbath day.” 

Now let me ask, as the spirit was driven , from the body — by the works 
of the devil through his machinery, whilst every particle of the body was 


RESURRECTION AND ASCENSION OF JESUS. 


241 


in perfect health, strength, and purity. As our mind is created by God with 
that freedom of thought, is there anything wrong in thinking that — by the 
watchful care of God — that spirit remained and hovered over that body 
until the body was well rested, and then again took its position in the body 
and raised the body from death ? Do not we see that in our present time, 
where bodies appear dead — lie in a trance for hours, or even days, and then 
the spirit returns and raises that body to life ? Now if Jesus was actually 
so risen from the dead, being in full strength and vigor of the body, and 
being on the inside of the tomb, where he could take the advantage of the 
stone, let me ask; is there anything wrong in thinking that Jesus — aided 
by the strength of God — pushed that stone from the mouth of the tomb, 
and walked out ? 

Now as Jesus was again on his feet, being in fear of the Jews — actually 
showing himself to his friends, may I ask; was not it just as easy for God 
to take him up into heaven, — both spirit and body — as it was for God to 
create the earth that he was taken from ? can any skeptic say no ? 

Again, it had been practised from Moses’s time down to the days of 
Jesus, — by some, — when they were called away, they would go by them- 
selves into an unknown spot on a mountain, and thus pass away, leaving 
their last resting place unknown to all earthly friends. As Jesus was 
accustomed to seeking loneliness, in the mountain : — at the expiration of a 
week or ten days after his resurrection, — fever and corruption having now 
laid hold on his body, may I ask : Is there anything wrong in thinking that 
Jesus might have gone into the mountain for to sleep as his custom was, 
and have left his last resting place hidden from the human eye ? and his 
appearance thereafter, being the spirit appearing through a mesmerizing 
power from God ? 

Have I brought forth any ideas in contradiction to the teachings of 
Jesus ? Did Jesus tell his apostles that he did not roll away the stone ? 
Did Christ at his ascension, tell his apostles that that was not a spiritual 
scene, through the power of God ? Could not God have done all of those 
things as easily as he could create man in the first place ? Did not Jesus 
teach us a great deal that when he talked about Christ, he was a talking 
about the Spirit ? And did not he tell us that Jesus was the temple for 
Christ to dwell in whilst here on this earth ? “He spoke of the temple of 
his body.” John 2:21. Those who will not believe that Jesus was taken up 
to heaven bodily, can see that every word of this scenery could have been 
performed spiritually. 

Page 62. I Recognize this day's work as a great forward step toward 
.... the personal return of Jesus Christ to this earth. 

It is right to teach our people that Christ stands ready to come back to 
this earth to-day — in fulness of his promise, as fully and as perfectly as he 
was in the body of Jesus. But as for the personal return of the body of 
Jesus, I say let it remain where God may choose. Did not Jesus speak so 
many times about Christ, in parable, and yet we not understand ? We can 
show to the blind — to the most stubborn, who will not see — that the dark- 


242 


HOW ARE WE LED ? 


est points in Scripture can be made light if we wiil try to understand, and 
remember that he spoke of Christ so many times in parable. Let us look 
at the words of Jesus, and study whether we cannot understand. Mark 
4:11. “All these things are done in parable” 21. “That seeing they may 
see, and not perceive ; and hearing they may hear and not understand.” 
Matt. 13:13. “Speak I to them in parable : because they seeing see not ; 
aid hearing they hear not, neither do they understand.” 14. “ By hearing 
ye shall hear and shall ye not understand ;” 15:17. “Do ye not under- 
stand ?” John 8:43. “ Why do ye not understand my speech ?” 

Did not Jesus tell us so many things in parable, and tell us so many 
times that we cannot understand ? We should study the Scriptures as par- 
ables, and live a righteous life in truth and reality. When I find a thing in 
the Bible, that will not fit life and nature in this world, 1 analyze it in a 
spiritual light, and so try to understand it : And I ask God to give me light 
and understanding. 

I said that Christ is on earth to-day, but in weaker beings than that of 
Jesus. I also said that Christ stands ready to come back to this earth at 
any time, in the fulness of his power. When will he come ? When we find 
a mother that will study the Bible as parables, and live a righteous life so 
near to truth and reality, as to give her child inheritance to a mind, that 
both parts will be from God ; if she raises her child likewise. 

The part of the mind that is conceived of God, “ is the least of all seeds: 
but when it grew, it” “ became a tree” of life : it is the seed of the talent 
that every being must return to the God who gave it. The seed that is 
inherited from the mother is the seed of Cain’s birthmark that grows the 
thorn and the tare. If not cut down and destroyed whilst in this mortal 
body, it must be returned to the devil, to whom it justly belongs. When we 
cut off the thorn, and the tare, and graft on the talent, we become a Chris- 
tian, not a Christ but a part of Christ called a Christian. We may belong 
to a church, have all sorts of faith, and so on ; but we are not a Christian 
unless we have a part of Christ in us as Jesus had in him. 

When we find a mother that will give an inheritance of both parts of the 
mind from God, that child being raised righteously, God will have full 
power over that child : Satan will have no power over that child, and cannot 
keep Christ out of it. Then we will see Christ on earth again in person, 
then the prophecy will be fulfilled. 

Those that must see Jesus Christ in person, let them name that infant 
Jesus, and it will be Jesus Christ. But that time will never come, we will 
never have Jesus Christ on earth in full strength and power, until righteous 
mothers raise their children according to their own judgment, regardless of 
what their neighbors say. 

If we leave that Jesus that was crucified — where God has put him, and 
if we raise us a new Jesus, God will give us the same old Christ, in fulness 
and in purity : And not only one Christ, but a Christ for each Jesus that we 
will raise. 


JESUS' TESTATED WILL. 


243 


CHAPTER XXIY. 

(JESUS’ TESTATED WILL. ) 

A minister now hands me a book that touches the subject that we were 
working on when trying to build our union church. 

Whilst canvassing for that church, the strangest idea that we met, was, 
every body wanted to see unity in Christianity, but each seemed to think that 
their way was the only right way, all others should come and unite with them. 

The title of this book shows us that this convention was composed of 
the same kind of people, searching after unity in Christianity, yet, in “Great 
Controversy. ” As we have been over this subject once, we will leave it that 
way, and only sketch a few points of other interest. 

The Great Controversy. A Bible and historical search after the true 
basis of Christian unity. 

The speakers in this book, quote from other books. I give their quota- 
tions and pages as I find them in their book. 

Page 8. The Methodist discipline , Art. IX., pages 1j> \, 15. “ We are 

accounted righteous before God only for the merit of our Lord and Saviour 
Jesus Christ, by faith, and not for our works or deservings, wherefore we 
are justified by faith only, is a most wholesome doctrine, and very full of 
comfort. ” 

Still we find other churches that gives us such teachings ; is not there a 
church on earth that will take me by the hand, and say, we will lay aside so 
much dependence upon faith, and depend more on our own works ? 

Christ told us that he was actually God. The spirit of Jesus was actu- 
ally a part of the Spirit of God; 

Now if Christ is God, he created this earth and put the people onto it — 
into sin, and then through predestination has sent the greater part of them 
into everlasting death, regardless of their thoughts, or works ; then he sits 
upon his throne and rejoices over his works. If I had preached this doctrine 
for a lifetime, after reflecting upon it, I could never lay this charge to God 
— or Christ again. The only salvation for us is through “faith, grace , and 
the noble confession that Jesus Christ was the son of God.” 

Let us teach our people that they must make their own covenant, do their 
own work, and wash and cleanse their own mind in the spiritual blood of 
Christ, not in the mortal blood of Jesus, that flowed on Calvary. Then their 
faith will have some foundation, then God’s grace will be rewarded. 

Yet under all of those doctrines, and in all of those churches, we find 
good true meaning Christians, and I stand ready and desirous to take one 
and all by the hand, and march with them to their place of worship, leaving 
them perfectly free to think and choose for themselves. 

Page 113. When I started out to preach years ago , I made up my 
mind that God helping me I never would believe , preach, or practise any- 
thing for which I could not find plainly and full authority in the word 
of God. 


244 


HOW ARE WE LED ? 


We searched the Bible from lid to lid and could not find one word of 
authority for changing the Sabbath-day, as for anything else that they may 
teach you, I leave you to search the Bible and use your own judgment. 

Page 123. What is the meaning of the word testament f ... . many 
'people speak of the new testament without comprehending what it is , or 
what it offers. A testament is simply a will , .... the new testament is 
therefore the will of God concerning man. 

This is true enough, the word testament does mean a will, yet if he 
counsels Webster’s unabridged dictionary together with civil law, he will find 
that a testament must be made wholly by the testator in order to embrace a 
will. Still this writer is justifiable in his statement, for Paul supports him; 
but we will examine Paul’s writings. Heb. 9:16. “For where a Testament 
is, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator. 17. For a 
testament is of force after men are dead; otherwise it is of no strength at 
all while the testator liveth. ” Paul says, “There must also of necessity be 
the death of the testator,” thus telling us that Jesus is dead, in other places 
he tells us that Jesus is not dead, but went up to heaven both soul ana 
body, and is still a living there. How shall we take it, that Jesus is dead, 
or that he is still living ? 

Paul tells us that the new testament is Jesus Christ’s will, and to prove it 
so he appeals to moral law. If he is a going to bring Jesus and his teach- 
ings under moral law in order to prove it to be a will, we will examine it 
under moral law, and when he tells us that Jesus is still alive, we will 
remember that he must be dead in order to make his will of effect. 

But let us turn to our little book — the “Great Controversy.” 

Page 130. When did Jesus Christ make his will ? During his life on 
earth. 

He has asked this question and answers it himself. ‘ ‘ During his life on 

earth.” 

He began his ministry and continued until his death . 

Here he tells us plainly that Jesus is dead, was the new testament 
written during the life of Jesus ? I never knew a person to make their will 
after they had died. 

During his Biblic ministry he dispensed rich gifts , as he clearly had a 
right to .. . .he also imposed such conditions as the immediate circumstances 
required. He said to the impotent man: ‘ 1 Rise take up thy bed and walk.” 

Those gifts were a part of his will. This was a good gift, but only given 
to one person, and thus given, settled, and done with long before the first 
word of the will was written. 

He said to the man sick of palsy : son be of good cheer ; thy sins be for- 
given thee. 

This likewise was only given to one person, yet a good gift, and long 
before his will was written. 

He said to the sinful woman : Thy faith hath saved thee; Go in peace. 
He said to the penitent thief on the cross : to-day shalt thou be with me in 
paradise. 


JESUS’ TESTATED WILL. 


245 


Again a gift to one person alone. If those are gifts from Jesus Christ 
bestowed upon those people as gifts in a will — such will as the moral law 
requires from a testator, I accept them as such, and shall continue to hold 
them as gifts in a will — all the will that Jesus ever made, so his will is only 
to those whom he pointed out and none others. 

If I begin to write my will to-day , and continue to write for three years , 
I will have a perfect right to make any gifts that I desire to make. 

He says, “ if I begin to write my will to-day, and continue to write for 
three years,” as much as to say that Jesus was three years a writing his 
will. To the best of our records, Jesus could not write, “having never 
learned.” John 7 : 15. Neither do we have any records that he ever told 
the apostles to write a word. 

We must not appeal simply to what Jesus did , but what he commanded 
the witness to do. 

We have no cause to think that Jesus ever commanded a witness to write 
a word. 

The moment he expired his personal acts sank into insignificance , and 
the executors must deal only with what is expressed as his will. 

Here he spoils his own argument, he again tells us that Jesus is dead, 
and “the moment he expired his personal acts expired also.” What he had 
done before that, they might work on, this would bring in Matthew, Mark, 
Luke, and John, only, but what the apostles wrote after ‘ ‘ his personal acts 
sank into insignificance ” can not be termed his will. 

He is pointing out the new testament as Jesus’ legally authorized will, 
under civil law. 

He yielded up his life in order to the world's redemption. 

He tells us so much that Jesus is dead, it truly must be so. We will 
now leave page 130 and go back to 123. 

What is the meaning of the word testament. Many people speak of the 
new testament without comprehending what it is , or what it offers. A 
testament is simply a will , the new testament is therefore the will of God 
concerning man. 

Paul said, Heb. 9 : 16. “For where a testament is, there must also of 
necessity be the death of the testator. 17 for a testament is of force after 
men are dead : otherwise it is of no strength at all whilst the testator liveth.” 

May I ask such a question is God dead ? this writer says that the new 
testament is the will of God. They tell us that the testator made his will 
during his ministry on earth, that his will is of none effect as long as the 
testator liveth, that the testator is dead, and that the testator is God — “the 
new testament is therefore the will of God concerning man.” 

Now if the doings and teachings of Jesus was his legal will, the doings 
and teachings of the schoolmaster in the schoolroom are his legal will ; and 
so throughout the world. But at present I shall take the brother’s side, and 
hold that the doings and teachings of Jesus was his testated will : And the 
moment he expired his personal acts sank into insignificance. 

As for Paul’s writings let me say — that things will appear to me when I 


246 


HOW ARE WE LED ? 


am in the field, or on the road, and before I can get to my pen it has passed 
from my mind and I cannot again get it as I had it at first. Or it may come 
to my mind when in my bed, and if I fail to get up and write it then it is 
impossible for me to get it as it came to me at first. Why is this ? It is 
because I am a human being, and my mind is possessed of humane frailty : 
And Paul was a human being just the same as I, and a living under humane 
frailty the same as I. Probably not so strongly possessed of frailty as I, 
but he was a human being not as perfect as Jesus was. 

But I will quote a little more of Paul’s writings. Heb. 10 :5. “Where- 
fore, when he came into the world, he saith, sacrifice and offering thou wouldst 
not, but a body hast thou prepared me.” 

In studying this verse we learn five different lessons. First. We learn 
that if the two last lines of this verse were the words of Christ, he was a talk- 
ing about the Spirit, and said, “a body hast thou prepared for me.” calling 
the spirit, me. Second. We learn, If those were the words of Jesus, they 
belonged in his will ; Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John failed to put them 
there, or at least I fail to find them there : thus teaching us that the apostles, 
failed to write down his will perfectly. Third. “He saith, sacrifice and of- 
fering thou wouldst not” thus teaching us that he would not follow the tra- 
ditions of man, but lean upon God’s staff — his own judgment, and so much so 
that he would suffer crucifixion rather than lay aside his own judgment, to 
follow the traditions of man. I follow his example. Fourth. It teaches us 
that this mortal body is only machinery created to wear out, and waste away : 
only a body prepared for me, a body of matter perceivable by all the senses 
of nature. It teaches us that the mind is the man that plans, plots, and 
executes, all deeds performed by the human being. Fifth. It teaches us 
that the mind, is what God created in his own image — what is the spirit — 
what is the everlasting being — what we must wash, cleanse, make whiter 
than snow — and what we must prepare for everlasting happiness. 

Now we go on to the ninth and tenth verses of this chapter and we find 
that Jesus said, “Lo I come to do thy will, 0 God.” Paul says, “He taketh 
away the first, that he may establish the second. By the which will we are 
sanctified.” Again Paul is a telling us of Jesus’ will. 

We find the word (will) in the Bible near a hundred and fifty times, and 
of many different meanings. 

It seems that Paul quoted the words of Jesus to make it appear that Jesus 
came to do away with God’s law, and give us a different law in its place : But 
if Paul did intend it in that way, have we got to accept it so ? No lean 
upon God’s staff — your own judgment. 

Matt. 26:42. “0 my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me, 

except I drink it, thy will will be done.” Jesus saith “thy will shall be 
done.” He would suffer death, before he would flinch, or think to change 
God’s desire. 

If I come to work for you I come to do thy will, not to do contrary to 
thy will. Because I have come to do thy will, (to accomplish your property), 
have I come to dispose of your property just as I may please ? and make 
that your legal will, you yet a living ? 


JESUS’ TESTATED WILL. 


247 


The willingness of Abraham, was, that the people of the world should 
live a righteous life, and so prepare themselves to meet their God : but that 
did not make a testated will of his possessions. The willingness of Jacob 
was that the people of the world should live a religious life, and so prepare 
themselves to meet their God : But that did not make a testated will of his 
possessions. The willingness of Moses was just the same, — that the people 
of the world should live a religious life, and so try to prepare themselves to 
meet their God, he went onto Mount Sinai and brought God’s law written on 
stone, he wrote his moral law, and tried to compel his people to live a 
religious life, but he left no testated will. The willingness of Jesus, — or 
the will of Jesus (just as you are a mind to call it) was precisely the same, — 
that the people of the world should live a religious life, and so prepare 
themselves to meet their God ; and he taught that willingness and told 
others to teach it. 

Now the willingness of those four men was just the same, they all were 
possessed of the same will. Did they all leave that as their testated will, 
under the rules of moral law, as a will of their disposure ? Did the willing- 
ness of the mind of Jesus make a testated will any more so, than that of the 
other three ? In studying the new testament, I cannot tell whether Paul was 
alluding to the doings and teachings of Jesus, or whether he was alluding to 
the writings about the doings and teachings of Jesus. If Paul was alluding 
to the doings and teachings of Jesus, we have but little of the will, if it 
were all written “the world itself could not contain the books.” John 
21 : 25. The new testament is not the will of Jesus, but only the testi- 
monials of the apostles, telling us about those doings and teachings. If 
Paul was alluding to those writings, he must have looked a good way a head, 
for a part of those writings were written more than thirty years after this 
verse was written. But our present writers tell us that Jesus Christ is 
dead ; they tell us that he died on the cross ; they tell us that the very hour 
that he died his will was completed and forever sealed. They are trying 
to make us understand that the new testament is his testated will, when 
they are a trying to make us understand that we have a high priest in 
heaven interceding for us, and that we have a servant substituting our service 
in hell, — a bounty jumper swindling the devil out of his just dues, they 
tell us that it was Jesus Christ, and that to-day he is a living being : even 
from the foundation of the world. Dear readers, if they were to always 
tell us that Jesus Christ is dead — or if they were to always tell us that 
Jesus Christ is alive; they would not make so many infidels, as they do, by 
telling us one story at one time, and the other story at another time. 

Dear reader, I shall tell you that Jesus is dead, and I shall never tell you 
that he is alive, neither shall I tell you that he died on the cross ; for I 
believe that he went into a trance on the cross. I shall tell you that Christ 
is not dead, nor has never l een dead. I shall say that Christ is the true and 
living God to-day the same as ever. 

Now if the new testament is a legally testated will, who is it the will of ? 
Jesus is dead, and the very hour that he died — according to Paul, and 
according to our civil laws — his will was finished, and sealed forever, no 


248 


HOW ARE WE LED? 


writing a will after the testator is dead : the new testament being written 
many years after his death, some of it as late as sixty-six years after his 
crucifixion. It contains a part of the records of his doings in mortal life, it 
contains a part of the records of Paul’s evil doings, after his crucifixion, it 
records Paul’s conviction eight years before he and Barnabas were chosen to 
go among the Gentiles to preach : it contains a part of the records of 
Paul’s travels for seventeen years, in Asia, and winds up with records of 
transactions as late as sixty-six years after the will of Jesus was finished and 
sealed forever. 

Is the new testament Christ’s will ? Christ is alive to-day, and a will is 
null and void as long as the testator liveth : according to both, Paul, and 
civil law. 

Is the new testament God’s will ? if so has God the right to correct, 
amend, or change it at his leisure ? Civil law says that a will is changeable 
as long as the testator liveth. 

Let me ask one more question ; is the new testament, testimonials of the 
apostles, testifying to the works of Jesus Christ and his apostles ? teaching 
us to try to follow his example, and so gain an interest on his throne. If 
your answer to my last question is yes, let us remember that true Christian- 
ity embraces works as well as faith, and let us begin to practise it in every- 
day life at home, that we may better display it abroad. 

If the new testament is testimonials of the apostles, can they be changed, 
or modified, by revising, and yet be true affidavits? No! they can not! 
they should remain as they are, but God’s teachings should advance, as our 
intellect advances : But leave the affidavit of the apostles just as they gave 
them. We should read the new testament with the same discrimination that 
we would read, a deposition of a truthful man of our present day, and lean 
upon God’s staff, as we reflect thereon. Let us again turn to our little book. 

Page 136. When Jesus spoke of the vine and its branches, there were no 
denominations ; hence, he must have been speaking to his individual followers. 

In some places he tells us that Jesus Christ foreknew all things from the 
foundation of the earth, but in opposition to others, on this point, he does 
not think that Jesus spoke of the branches, in foreknowledge of the many 
churches, as are in the present time. If foreknowledge won’t pass in this 
place, it will not pass in any place. I apply the vine to the great Spirit of 
God, and the branches to any true Christian, regardless of what church they 
belong to, or if they do not belong to any church at all. Then we find 
another great vine and its branches, a vine of bittersweet, that we can apply 
to the devil, and his children. 

Page 140. We want no union of sects, for that woidd bethe sum total of 
sectarianism. 

“ We want no union of sects,” we want union of members, bring them all 
to our church, our church is the only church that is right. Would not 
we show more righteousness, by trying to teach true Christianity in all 
churches, teaching their members, that their every-day talk, and actions at 


JESUS’ TESTATED WILL. 


249 


home, is what turns the keys of heaven, and of hell. Their daily walk is 
their Christian life. 

Page 163. This book {Acts) is , therefore, a witness of apostolic doc- 
trine and primitive Christianity. 

Here he says that the book of Acts is a witness, is not the whole new 
testament equally, as witness of the doctrine of Jesus Christ? Let us call 
it witness all the time, and not call it a testated will at any time. 



Does God pre - des - ti - nate man king, And fore- or - dain the hu - man mind? 

He ’ll draw, per - suade, di - rect a -right, Bless us with wis - dom, love, and light; 

0 then no more your pow’rs a - buse, But ways of truth and good - ness choose ! 



jv 


Does 

In 

Our 







He se - lect one out of sev’n To dwell up - on His throne in heav’n ? 

name - less ways be good and kind, But nev - er force the hu - man mind: 

God is pleased when we im- prove His grace, and seek the worlds a - bove: 


i 



No, sin - ner, ev - ’ry one is free To choose their course and what they ’ll be, 

Free-dom and rea - son make us men ; Take those a - way, what are we then f 

But if you take the downward road, And make, in hell, your last a - bode; 


$ 




1 


* — — * 

* * J f 


For this e - ter - nal truth is giv’n, That God will force no one to heav'n. 

Mere an - i - mals, and just as well, E’en brutes might think of heav’n or hell. 

Our God is clear, and you shall know You’ve plung’d yourself in end - less woe. 


250 


HOW ARE WE LED ? 


CHAPTEK XXV. 

Who can say the most, and the last angry words in angry strife : The first step in 

Christianity is to see who can get through angry strife with the least angry 

words. 

When I first experienced religion I hesitated to join a church, but since 
the church-members have learned my faith they would rather reject, than to 
accept me as a brother in their church. But I search the Scriptures for 
support, as well as for reproof : And I, of course, must weigh the testimony 
of the apostles, before I accept reproof, and as my attention has been called 
to 1 John 2:22. I must weigh his words to find my standing. 2:22. “ Who 
is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ.” I cannot see as this 
quotation affects me any ; in those days people did not divide the human 
person as two separate beings, the mortal being, and the divine or — diabol- 
ical being, and but very few see that division to-day. They did not know 
that the body has one name, and the spirit has another name, and where are 
our people that know this to-day. But dear reader this is true, and I will 
give you two names for the spirit, Christian, and sinner ; and you may look 
at any person on the face of the earth ; and you cannot miss applying one 
of those names to the spirit of that person. The youngest of those two 
spiritual names you can trace back for near nineteen hundred years, and by 
changing from this new name to the old one, you could trace it back near 
nineteen hundred years farther. This new name for the spirit is Christian, 
changed from the old name Israelite : In reality those two names are both 
one, God’s children. The other of those two names for the spirit, is sinner ; 
you can trace this name for the spirit back for twenty-nine hundred years, 
and almost trace it for four hundred years still farther back. The spirit of 
every human being must travel under one of those names, or the other ; 
Christian, ( Israelite ) or sinner. I divide the spirit from the body, John 
did not make this division, but when we turn to St. John 2:21. we find that 
Jesus made it. 2: 21 “But he spoke of the temple of his body.” 6: 63. “ It 
is the Spirit that quickeneth ; the flesh profiteth nothing : the words that I 
speak unto you, they are spirit.” I look upon Jesus as the earthly temple 
subject to destruction, the body of matter visible to the mortal eye, subject 
to corruption and waste. I look upon Christ as the divine body, impercep- 
tible to all humanity, but the great man that gave us such great divine 
teachings. Scarce any one makes this division, therefore they criticize me. 

When we try to live in obedience with God’s word — so free from sin 
that we can say in our own mind, ‘ « 0 God my mind is so free from sin, so 
clean, so white, so spotless, that I am ready at any time that you may call 
me — to meet you face to face before the great judgment bar.” Then we 
are true Christians, regardless of church, creed, or style of worship. If I 
live, since I last made my covenant with God, — so that I can meet my God 
face to face, without turning my face from him, that is all that is required. 


WHAT TO DO IN ANGRY STRIFE. 


251 


If my mind is so guilty that I cannot meet my God without turning n^ face 
from him, my own book bares the record, and I am my own condemner. 

God damns no one, we hold the keys of heaven and of hell in our own 
hands, and we turn them whilst here on this earth ; when we make our own 
covenant, we unlock the gates of heaven, and when we turn back into sin, 
we lock them up again. 

You may go to church much oftener than I, worship God in much more 
style and popularity than I, and stand in a much higher Christian ring than I, 
yet if you indulge in those indwelling sins, those every-day sins and short 
comings, your mind cannot be free, clear, and white ; therefore your own 
book cannot bear a good record. 

Jesus taught us to repent of our sins, cleanse our minds, and worship 
God : But he did not tell us how to worship. I am ready to take any Chris- 
tian by the hand and call him brother, regardless of creed, or style of wor- 
ship ; tell him what I think is right, and what I think is wrong; listen to 
what he thinks is right, and what he thinks is wrong ; and then leave him to 
use his own judgment. All that he has got to learn, is whether the act that 
he is about to perform is right or wrong ; if he deems it right in the eyes of 
God, let his mind be his judge; if he deems it wrong in the sight of God, 
and still goes on to do it, his mind will be his condemner before the great 
judgment bar. 

One great point is this, I believe that I am safe in saying that ninety-nine 
out of a hundred are constantly striving to see who can say the most, and 
the last angry words. The first step in Christianity, is to see who can get 
along with the least angry words, when angry strife arises ; and see which 
can leave off those angry words first. 

Always speak mild and pleasant, even though you have to speak in the 
greatest of earnestness, speak it in a pleasant way, the first step in Chris- 
tianity is to see who can pass through angry strife with the least angry words. 

A few words that should be learned to all children are those, don’t believe 
all that you read, just because it is printed : don’t believe all that you hear, 
just because it is spoken : read, listen, think, but always use your own judg- 
ment : it is better to hear, than it is to be heard ; it is far better to think a 
great deal, and say but little ; than it is to say a great deal with but little 
thoughts. 

SATAN’S RAGING STORM. 

The sharpest lightning, and the loudest thunders, that invades Satan’s 
storms, rolls from the human tongue; all other signs — and clouds of Satan’s 
storms, are gently washed away by the softening drops of water that gently 
fall from the eye, as they dry away from memory’s long existence. 

Many a one can sing the following song, with an anguishing heart, where 
those sharpest lightning have slivered the tree of life, and separated its 
branches. 


252 


HOW ARE WE LED? 


SATAN’S STORMY SHIPWRECK. 


- 

H — i h 

i—i H 



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1. 

When 

my 

hair shall shame 

the snow-drift, 

When 

my 

eyes 

shall 

2. 

I 

would 

ask 

of you 

a ques-tion, 

Ask 

a 

ques 

- tion 

3. 

Down 

the 

stream 

of life 

to - geth - er, 

We 

were sail 

- ing 

4. 

We 

have 

pass’d 

our sweet 

life’s morn - ing, 

Yes, 

our noon-time ’s 

5. 

Why 

is 

it 

you keep 

so si - lent? 

Why 

will 

you 

not 

6. Why 

don’t 

you 

my ques - 

tion an -swer? 

Will 

you 

not 

say 



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dimmer grow; 
soft and low; 
side by side; 
in the rear; 
one word speak ? 
yes, or no? 



I would lean up - on some loved one 
One that ’s give me man - y heartaches, 
Hop-ing some bright day to an-chor, 
And our evening bells are toll - ing, 
Are you dream-ing, O my dar-ling? 
If you will not heed my plead-ing, 



As I 
As the 
Safe be- 
I must 
Are you 
I must 



down the val - ley go. 
mo-ments come and go. 
yond the surg-ing tide, 
love you still, my dear, 
tru - ly fast a- sleep? 
tru - ly let you go. 


If you tread the path that ’s righteous, 
Will you an - swer me, my dar - ling? 

On that day our sky was cloud - less, 

Once I thought your love was per * feet, 
Yet, if you walk in Christ’s foot-steps, 

Yet I ask of you this prom- ise, 





Tho’ we know love oft grows cold; 
Will you an - swer, warm or cold? 
But that night did clouds un - fold; 
Tho’ we know love oft grows cold; 
If you trace his path as told; 
Worth to me its weight in gold: 







If you ’re numbered 
It is this that 

In that storm our 

A - gain I say 
If you ’re numbered 
It is this that 


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with 

God’s chil - dren, 

I 

must 

— 

love 

I 

would ask you, 

Will 

you 

I’ll 

love 

bark 

was brok - en, 
this I’d ask you, 

Still, 

love 

’t is 

Will 

you 

love 

with 

the right - eous, 

I 

must 

love 

I 

would ask you, 

Will 

you 

love 


5^ 


you when we ’re old. 
me when we ’re old? 
you when we ’re old. 
me when we ’re old? 
you when we ’re old. 
me when we ’re old? 


i 


THE STORM IS OVER. 


253 


The following song can be sung in felicity, where Christ’s brightest and 
mildest sunshine is experienced, in the sweetest afternoon of glory, where 
Satan’s quickening flashes of lightning, have stricken the tree of destruction, 
and wiped it out of existence. 


SATAN’S STORMS PASSED BY. 



1. When your hair shall shame the snow - drift, When your eyes do 

2. We have sailed thro’ life to - geth - er, Till we ’ve pass’d our 

3. As we pass’d our sweet life’s morn - ing, As we ’ve left noon 

4. Now I ’ve an - swered your ques - tion, An-swered you both 





= 2 = 



dim -mer grow; 
bright-est day; 
in the rear, 
warm and true; 


You shall lean up - on my shoul-der, As we 

We will now drift down the riv - er, Side by 

So we ’ll clasp a - gain, my dar-ling, Make our 

Told you that we ’d love each oth - er, Not the 



down the val - ley go. 
side in - to the bay; 
eve - ning bright and clear : 
same as we used to; 



For I ’ve tru - ly made a cov- ’nant 

Now I an -swer you in true- ness, 

Tho. we know no one is per - feet, 

But we ’ll learn to love the spir - it; 



With my God 
And my an - 
And we know 
Love what God 


as Scrip - ture told, 
swer is not cold; 
love does grow cold; 
doth call the soul; 


That we ’ll wear out 
I have made my 
Yet we ’ll warm it 
Love what God made 



sweet-life’s rem - nant, Hand in hand, as we grow old. 

God this prom - ise, That I ’ll love you when we ’re old. 

with God’s judg-ment, And ex - change it when we ’re old. 

in his im - age; Love each oth - er when we ’re old. 


254 


HOW ARE WE LED ? 


To add a few words here hoping to benefit my readers, I will give some 
of the correspondence that has passed between me and a girl that has lived 
in my family since she was eight years old. She is in nowise connected 
with me, neither was she adopted into our family, but simply living with 
us; though she calls me father, and I call her my daughter. 

March 28th, 1897. 

Dear daughter: I now write you again, and I will now ask of you a re- 
quest that I would like you to promise me, but before I ask this of you I will 
ask you to take a string and go and tie it on a limb of the rose-bush : I want 
you to call that limb yours, and I want you to look at the tiny buds on that 
limb and you will see what a tiny mind you had when I first knew you : I 
want you to watch those buds closely and see them grow and then you will 
see how that your mind is constantly a growing : and I want you to look at 
the buds on a thorn limb in grandma’s hedge, and you will find them to be 
just as pretty as the buds on the rose-bush : And I want you to watch those 
buds as they grow. On the 28th day of May I want you to take another 
string and tie it around your limb on the rose-bush, and I want you to look 
at the largest buds on that limb, then look at your own mind and you will 
see how that your mind has grown in such a little while, then you can see 
how large your mind is to-day. I want you to watch those buds as they 
grow, and on the 28th day of June I want you to cut off this beautiful rose 
limb and carry it to the thorn in the hedge, and there you will see the differ- 
ence between the two limbs, — the limb of the rose and the limb of the thorn. 
Then dear daughter take your rose limb home, lay it on the ground, and 
watch it closely, and you will see that it will decay and go back into the 
same earth that it came out of : you will see that it grows out of the earth, 
buds and blooms, and goes back to the very earth from whence it came. Then 
you go to the rose-bush and examine the flowers that have not been cut off, 
and you will find that they have come to maturity, and of themselves have 
fallen to the ground, and must decay and go into the very earth from whence 
they came. Then dear daughter look at your own mind, that is in its largest 
bud, just ready to bloom, if it is cut off in its bloom it must go back to the 
God who gave it : if it is permitted to mature and fall of itself, it also 
must return to the very God that gave it. Then dear daughter remember 
that there is two Gods ; the God of the righteous and the god of the sinner, 
or the waters of the righteous and the waters of the sinner"— the earth of the 
righteous and the earth of the sinner. Remember dear daughter that the 
mind of Christ is the tree of life — the rose-bush that you have been a watch- 
ing, your own mind ; and it is grown from the God that I said was the great 
earth of righteousness ; the rose-bush is grown from God. The mind of 
Satan is the great tree of destruction — the thorn-tree that is grown from 
that God that I told you was the great earth of destruction. And your mind 
must be a branch of one or the other of those trees, your mind must be a 
limb of the rose-bush, and it must return to that great earth called God, or 
else it must be a limb of the thorn-tree, and it must return to that great 
earth called the devil. 


THE ROSE-BUSH AND THE THORN. 


255 


Now dear daughter watch those little trees closely until you are satisfied 
whether your mind shall be, a limb of God’s rose-bush, or a limb of the 
thorn-tree, then write and tell me your choice. 

Your father as ever, 

C. H. S. 

June 28th, 1897. 

Dear Papa : 

I will try to answer your very welcomed letter. I have read it 
every week since I received it except two. You asked me which I would 
rather have my mind like, a limb of the rose-bush, or a limb of the thorn ? 
I would rather have it to imitate a limb of the rose-bush. 

I will send you a rose, and a leaf off of that limb of the rose-bush : etc. 

From your loving daughter, 

Rose Sanders, 

Lowell, Ind. 

June 30, 1897. 

Dear Daughter : 

Your letter is at hand, and it says that you have made a 
choice between the rose-bush and the thorn ; It says that you have chosen 
that your mind shall be as a limb of the rose-bush. Daughter I have only 
given you the rose-bush as a token of the tree of life, which is God’s mind. 
The devil’s mind is the tree of destruction. You have chosen that your mind 
shall be a limb of God’s mind — a limb of the tree of life. The Bible tells us 
‘ 1 blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness.” What 
is righteousness ? It is to do right. Blessed are they which do hunger and 
thirst to do right. Again it says, “blessed are the pure in heart.” What is 
the spiritual heart of man ? Dear girl it is the mind. Blessed are the pure 
in mind. You have chosen that your mind may be a branch of the rose-bush, 
instead of the thorn ; a branch of the tree of life, instead of the tree of de- 
struction : a branch of the mind of God, instead of the mind of the devil : 
Now strive daughter to keep your mind pure and blessed. The blighted dark 
spots on the rose-bush, represent the dark spots on your mind, the flowers 
that are on the rose-bush, represent the white spots where Christ has washed 
your mind and made it whiter than snow. 

The mind of every Christian person is a branch of that great tree of life, 
with those black and white spots on it. Dear daughter, I have heard you 
with many others sing to Jesus to wash j r ou and make you whiter than snow: 
But dear daughter Jesus cannot do that, God himself cannot wash those 
black spots from the mind as long as memory lasts : But there is one that 
can wash you. 

Dear girl you have told me, that, as small as you were when you was 
a living with your own mother, you saw her do things that you knew were 
wrong: you have seen the mother that you are living with now, do things 
that you knew were wrong ; but because that the mothers that stood before 


256 


HOW ARE WE LED ? 


you did those wrong things and taught them to you, that does not justify 
you in the least in repeating those wrongs. If you were to see every mem- 
ber of your church commit those wrongs, that would not excuse you for 
doing them, the spots on your mind would be just as black. 

Daughter, remember the rights that you do are the beautiful flowers that 
are on that limb of the rose-bush (your mind) ; and they are recorded there 
forever: And the wrongs — the evil deeds that you commit, are the black 
spots of blight on that beautiful limb, and they likewise are recorded there 
forever, as long as memory lasts. 

As I said dear daughter, many times have I heard you sing to Jesus to 
wash you and make you whiter than snow, but dear girl let me ask, what is 
it that must be washed ? is it your body ? no ! Is it your spirit ? yes ! 
But what is your spirit ? It is your mind , that must be icashed of those 
dark spots , that are recorded in your mind. 

Who is it that is to wash you and make you whiter than snow ? is it 
God ? No, dear girl, God cannot wash those dark spots from your mind, 
that you have recorded there. He created your mind in his own image, a 
mind of recollection, and those dark spots must remain in your mind as long 
as recollection lasts. 

Then who is it that is to wash you and make you whiter than snow ? 

It is yourself. 

How shall you wash yourself to cleanse those dark spots that are recorded 
on your mind, to last as long as memory lasts ? 

By making your mind, a branch of God’s mind. 

How shall you make your mind a branch of God’s mind ? 

By drinking freely of the waters that Jesus told you to drink of, that 
you may never die. 

How shall you drink of those waters ? 

By constantly cultivating right, right acts, and right thoughts always in 
your mind. 

What death will you avoid by drinking of those waters ? 

The separation of your mind from God’s mind, which is called spiritual 
death. 

By drinking in those waters, of that great mind, you take Christ into 
your own body to dwell, and that Christ is what does the washing. 

How can that Christ wash those dark spots from j r our recollection ? 

Those dark spots cannot be washed from your recollection ; but when you 
make a covenant with God that you will drink that mind into your own body, 
and keep it there, that covenant atones for those dark spots, and makes them 
brighter than gold. Promise God that you will lay aside those sins and do 
them no .more, if you live up to this promise, that washes the past and 
makes it clean. 

There will be times that you will meet wrongs that you cannot avoid ; at 
times, in your path, you will find that you must do a wrong to some one. 
You turn to the right to shun that wrong, and you will meet another wrong, 
you turn to the left and you will meet still another wrong ; you will some- 


OP THE THREE EVILS CHOOSE THE LEAST. 


257 


times find that you must do a wrong to some person : but dear daughter if 
you stop and think, and of the three wrongs choose you the least, in your 
own judgment, regardless of what others think, do what you think is the 
least wrong, then you have washed your own mind and made it whiter than 
snow : your mind is as clean, as white, as free from that wrong as though 
you had committed no wrong at all. Of the three evils choose the least, 
and be your own judge which is the least, for your own judgment knows 
when your mind is white and clean. It is the Christ that dwells in your 
own mind that judges you, that washes you, that cleanses you, and that 
makes self judgment a righteous judgment. No Jesus, no Christ, no God 
can wash or cleanse your mind except the Christ that is dwelling in your 
mind. Dear daughter the mind of God has got to dwell in your body, and 
become your mind, if you ever become a branch of the rose-bush instead of 
a branch of the thorn. That Christ that atones for you is your own mind, 
your own mind knows when ^ou are clean or when you are guilty. 

But dear daughter, in choosing of the three wrongs that lay before you, 
always do two wrongs to others, before you do one wrong to your own com- 
panion, regardless of what others say, let your own mind be your own judge, 
lean upon your own judgment, and let your righteous acts begin at home 
first, and shine to the world. Let the Christ that dwells in you, be your 
judge, and be your light ; and let it shine around home first, and then spread 
abroad. 

In every-day life and labor let right be the ruler, then, in the eyes of 
God, your miad will be more beautiful than a branch of any rose-bush, yea, 
more beautiful than any flowering almond bush that ever bloomed. Then 
you will be washed and made whiter than snow. 

Now dear daughter if life lasts, this letter will be fresh in your memory 
in years to come, so I will close by advising you to always let your righteous 
actions, your righteous deeds, your righteous works, spring up and grow in 
your home circle and shine to the world, don’t let them spring up and grow in 
the world to only shine to the home circle. 

Don’t be ashamed to display any and all tokens of love at home, regard- 
less of what your neighbors may say. By so doing you are not ashamed of 
Christ ( the Christ that dwells in your own body ) before man, then Christ 
will not be ashamed of you before God. 

But above all things in your future life you must have positive govern- 
ment over your subjects (let them be child or beast) without anger ; even 
though you have to severely punish, do so without anger, for that is one of 
the brightest spots on the human mind : that is a choosing the least of two 
evils. That does not only wash your own mind to make it whiter than snow, 
but it also washes the mind of the one that you punish. If you punish with 
anger, you not only place a black spot on your own mind, but, you drive the 
mind of the one that you punish into darkness. 

Always let your own mind be the mind of Christ, which is the mind of 
the true and living God : then you have Christ a reigning in your own body. 

I remain your kind and loving father. C. H. S. 


t 










t 





































PART THIRD. 


PREFACE. 

March 24, 1897. 

I date this part of my book that my readers may know the day that I 
begin this great work. 

I will say to my readers that I have another book to interview : One that 
will surprise the whole world, one that did surprise me, but I must do my 
work. But one great drawback in this work is, I cannot find anyone to help 
me to interview this book. 

I have been handed a number of different books for me to peruse, think- 
ing to change my faith: But the more I have perused those books, the 
stronger my faith has grown in the direction in which it had started. But as 
for the book that I now take into my hands to peruse, I know not how many 
will condemn me. 

Whilst in my bed last night I was told to interview the New Testament, 
and this morning I am ready to begin my work. How much of a task I have 
before me is more than I can tell; but I must say before beginning that I still 
consider the New Testament an inspiration from God. And I must say that 
I have never read a word in the Bible with the thoughts of interviewing its 
works critically, nor my fingers have never touched its lids since this inspira- 
tion entered my mind. 

Let me say here that the night before last, whilst in my bed, I saw a group 
of about a dozen men . I did not count or notice those men, except one, in 
the midst; I knew his face as well as I wonld know the face of my wife. His 
face was rather smaller than the average face of our American men, was more 
round than the average face of the American, and rather darker complexioned 
than the face of the American people ; but he wore a very pleasant count- 
enance. This face that I knew was the face of Jesus. I knew his face 
perfectly well, though I looked upon him with surprise, yet I did not speak to 
him. This scene passed from me for a time, then again I saw this group of 
men in another place, though not as many as at first, and this same Jesus 
stood in the midst, and I looked at him with the same feeling that I had at 
first : I knew his face perfectly well, yet I did not speak to him that time. 

This Jesus was crucified 1864 years ago this month: as the day began at 
sundown, as he ate his passover supper after sundown, was arrested after 
supper, was marched from place to place through the night, and was crucified 
before the next sundown, he must have been crucified on the 14th day of the 
March moon. He must have risen and have been on his feet, and appearing 
to his followers from the 16th to the 23rd day of that March moon; and he 
appeared to me on the 20th day of this present March moon. 

I had reflected upon this apparition for about twenty-four hours before 

261 


26 S 


PREFACE. 


this inspiration entered my heart; and I truly believe it to bean inspiration 
from Christ, which is the true and living Spirit of God. 

I have tried to live what we call a Christian life for only four }^ears, and 
the task that now stands before me looks like a heavy task for one who has 
had no more schooling than w’hat I have had, but I shall begin my work this 
morning, with hope and anxiety. 

As the Bible lies within the reach of all, I shall quote but little from it, 
but ask my readers to read each chapter of it for themselves. Any sentence 
that interests me I shall quote, using dots of omission where I take up the 
same verse the second time ; leaving the rest of the verse or chapter unquoted, 
hoping that my readers will get their Bibles and read the whole chapter. 

Jesus taught the people a great many righteous things, that is, he taught 
the people that they must do right if they wish to gain an interest in heaven. 

As I have finished my work in interviewing the New Testament, I shall 
now take the Old Testament for the same purpose. 


I shall have to say that we have not 
got all of Jesus’ teachings, but only his 
miracles, his parables, and his travels, 
which mostly excited the apostles’ 
minds, were dwelt upon, and written 
about. 


John, 31: 25. And there are also 
many other things which Jesus did, the 
which if they should be written everj 
one, I suppose that even the world 
itself could not contain the books. 


But the words that He preached, — his sermons, we have not got. There- 
fore I shall take the stand that there is not enough written in the New Testa- 
ment; yet I despise the idea of adding to, subtracting from, changing or 
revising the words of the Bible. I say let the Bible stand as it was written, 
and make the changes in a separate book, leaving each reader to lean upon the 
staff that God has given them — righteous judgment. 


SUPPLEMENT TO PREFACE. 


Our churches seem to be united in going to extremes in teaching us the 
great power of God. I say that God had power to create the earth and every- 
thing thereon, yet He created the human mind, perfectly free to choose for 
themselves whether they would walk in the path of righteousness, or whether 
they would walk in the path of corruption ; God has given this power out of 
his hands, and it is impossible for God to make this choice for man. I say 
that God has given the devil power to rule over man who has chosen to be 
ruled by the devil ; God has given this power out of his hands, and it is im- 
possible for God to do the devil’s work . 

Our churches seem to be united in going to extremes in teaching us that 
the Holy Bible is the inspired word of God. I say that every piece of writing 
that teaches the human being to do right, and to talk right, is an inspiration 
from God, whether found between the lids of the Bible or elsewhere. And I 
say that every writing that teaches the human being corruptness is an inspi- 
ration from the devil, whether found in the Bible or out of it. 

Our churches seem to be united in teaching us that Jesus Christ is our 
God, — our only Saviour, and our only salvation. T say that Christ was the 
righteous mind of Jesus; that Christ is the righteous mind of every true 
Christian that tries to walk in the tracks of Jesus; and the Christ that dwells 
in your own bosom is all the Christ that will ever save your own soul from 
everlasting damnation. I say that such a Christ was the true Son (spirit) of 
God, and is the true Son (spirit) of God, to-day. 

Our churches seem to be united in teaching us long and great prayers to 
God, through Jesus Christ, our only Redeemer. I say short prayers through 
the Christ who dwells in your own bosom will reach God. What did Jesus 
say about those “which devour widows’ houses,” (by taking all the money 
they can raise, to pay a high salary to their preacher, ) ‘ ‘and for a pretense 
make long prayers.” And again he said, “Pray ye therefore to the lord of 
the harvest. ” To-day the devil is lord of the greatest harvest that is reaped. 
A prayer is a request. I request the devil, or pray to the devil, to release 
his grasp from the human mind, that it may be more free to choose the 
righteous path. 

The religious people in the days of Jesus went to extremes in their teach- 
ings, the same as our religious people go to extremes in the present day ; and be- 
cause Jesus Christ condemned their extremes and called them traditions of man, 
the religious people crucified him. Because I condemn those extremes of our 
church members, and because I teach reason, the religious people condemn 
my work. And for this reason, the printer that has been doing my work now 
refuses to go on with it, therefore I am compelled to seek another firm to do 
my work. Yet I put it forth just the same, and ask my readers to use their 
own judgment. 


2C3 


264 


SUPPLEMENT TO PREFACE. 


This editor often lamented over my domestic affairs, and would write to 
me that he was very sorry that I brought my domestic affairs into my work. 

The entire object of my work is domestic affairs. I am of no value what- 
ever, except to show to the world that Christianity must reign in the home 
circle if it reigns at all. When there is no Christianity in the home circle, 
there is no Christianity on earth. 

All teachers should constantly dwell upon domestic affairs, and teach the 
necessity of Christianity at home. 

Preachers should never try to speak to please their congregations, but 
should plainly speak of the rights and the wrongs, and if there are any there 
whom it rubs, let them reflect thereon. 

The preacher who teaches you that you can live without righteousness in 
every-day life and labor, and yet gain heaven, — such a preacher is working 
for nothing but your money. 


CHAPTER XXVI. 


The miracles and parables of Jesus Christ are recorded. Searching for the ser- 
mons of J esus. Christ is love, the tokens of love are the tokens of Christ. 
Seeing and a feeling the human mind. God foreknows all things. 

I will now open the New Testament at the first chapter of Matthew, and 
all that we find in this chapter is a record of the conception of Jesns, and his 
genealogy back to Abraham. All that we find in the second chapter is only 
a narrative sketching the history (for a short time) of Joseph’s doings — of 
the doings of the wise men that visited Jesus after his birth, and the doings 
of Herod the king. We turn to the third chapter, and here is a narrative 
slightly sketching the preaching of repentance and baptism of John, and of 
his baptizing Jesus. All that we find in the fourth chapter was the fasting 
of Jesus, the devil tempting him, and his telling them to repent, and to 
serve but one God only. In the fifth chapter we find Jesus telling his 
apostles of the blessings of the different ones, naming them over. In the 
sixth chapter we find Jesus teaching us not to be generous just for a worldly 
show. 


Jesus does not use the same words 
here that I have used, that we should 
live a Christian life at home, whether a 
church member or not, but He teaches 
us that we should not join a church for 
the sake of being popular. He teaches 
us that popular Christianity is of no 
value. He teaches us not to think that 
we “ shall be heard for our much speak- 
ing,” but He gives us a short prayer, 
teaching us to use reason in what we 
ask God for. 


Matt , 6: 2. When thou doest thine 
alms, do not sound a trumpet before 
thee. 

6. When thou prayest, enter into 
thy closet, and. . . .pray to thy Father 
which is in secret: 

5. Thou shalt not be as the hypo- 
crites are; for they love to pray stand- 
ing in the .... corners of the streets, 
that they may be seen of men. 

7. They think that they shall be 
heard for their much speaking. 


I do not pray to God to take my friends and force them into righteous- 
ness, for He created them in perfect freedom to choose for themselves, and 
He cannot leave them in that freedom in which He created them, and at the 
same time force them into righteousness. He never forces man out of the 
path that He has created for man to walk in ; but when man steps out of that 
path they know not w r hat that they step into. 

My prayer is not to God, but to my friends ; and it is written in this book, 
asking them — of their own free will — to accept God’s hand ; then I pray to 
God to give them light and understanding. 


In chapter seven, in parable He 
teaches us to first cast off our own sins, 
and then we can freely chide and per- 
suade our friends to lay aside their sins. 

In the twelfth verse He tells us to 
use our own judgment as to what is 
right and what is wrong. 


7: 5. First cast out the beam out of 
thine own eye, and then shalt thou see 
clearly to cast out the mote out of thy 
brother’s eye. 

12. Whatsoever ye would that men 
should do to you, do ye even so to 
them. 


That is to say, He does not teach us here to give our pants to him that 
has forcibly taken our coat, but whatever we think would be right for others 

265 


266 


THE WONDERFUL HEALING POWER OF JESUS. 


to do by us, let us do the same by others ; this does not hold us to part with 
our possessions to the unworthy. If we think it would be right for others to 
hesitate to lend to us a dollar, when they know that they would not be likely 
to get it back, we of course are justifiable in looking after our dollar when 
we know that the borrower’s word is not reliable. 


In the fifteenth verse Jesus gives us 
this same advice, and tells us that we 
shall know them by what they have 
done before. A person that has studied 
human nature can tell them pretty 
well by their tongue. 


15. Beware of false prophets which 
come to you in sheep’s clothing, but 
inwardly they are raving wolves. 

16. Ye shall know them by their 
fruits. 


Chapter eight is teaching us of the wonderful power that Jesus had in 
healing of the palsy, the fever and the blind; but this power is not of the 
power of the flesh — of the mortal body: it is the power of God working 
through the spirit of Jesus which dwelt in that mortal body. Chapter eight 
the same, teaching us of the same power of Jesus, but not teaching us how 
to obtain that power. 


Chapter ten tells us that Jesus sent 
forth his apostles, telling them to be 
as wise as serpents and as harmless as 
doves. We cannot find better advice 
than this. 

In the forty-first verse He tells us 
that he that receiveth a righteous man 
in the name of a righteous man, shall 
receive a righteous man’s reward. 


10: 16. Behold, I send you forth as 
sheep in the midst of wolves; be ye 
therefore wise as serpents and harm- 
less as doves. 

41. He that receiveth a prophet in 
the name of a prophet, shall receive a 
prophet’s reward; and he that receiveth 
a righteous man in the name of a 
righteous man shall receive a righteous 
man’s reward. 


Now all that I ask of you is to use your own righteous judgment in regard 
to my righteousness. Head my book ; if my works are right, I am a right- 
eous man ; if my works are wrong, I am an unrighteous man. 


Chapter eleven tells us also of His 
miracles and of his teachings,- yet it 
leaves us in the dark as to what his 
teachings were. He gave great teach- 
ings and did great miracles, and the 
Bible gives us his miracles. 


11:11. Verily I say unto you, among 
them that are born of woman there 
hath not risen a greater than John the 
Baptist: notwithstanding, he that is 
least in the kingdom of heaven is 
greater than he . 


But it does not tell us what His teachings were, any more than He teaches 
us that after our spirit enters into heaven it is much greater than it is whilst 
here on this earth, — after our mind leaves this body it is much greater than 
it is whilst here in this mortal body. There is none greater than John the 
Baptist whilst here in this mortal body, but the least } after passing into heaven , 
is greater than he. If the mind is greater after it has passed into eternity 
than it is whilst here in this mortal body, which- is best for us to cultivate 
and grow our mind in : in devilishness and torment here on this earth, to ad- 
vance into a much greater stage of devilishness and torment for all eternity, 
or to cultivate and grow our mind in righteous enjoyment with our fellow- 


CULTIVATE A RIGHTEOUS MIND. 


267 


beings here on this earth, that it may advance into a much greater state of 
righteous enjoyment with our fellowbeings in all eternity? If you think it 
best to cultivate a righteous mind, let your cultivation begin at home first, 
and let it be practiced daily in your home labor and every day life ; that it 
may be more perfect when it passes into eternity. 

But in the above quoted verse Jesus said, “Among them that are born of 
woman, there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist:” that was to 
say, that John was equal to himself, for they were both born of woman, and 
J ohn was equal to any that had been born of woman. 

Jesus went on to say that “the least in the kingdom of heaven was 
greater than he,” but he did not explain to us that we advanced in growth as 
we passed over the river of death, or at least we do not get his sermons tell- 
ing us so. 

The study of Scripture is a great study, if we study it so as to get the 
true meaning out of all of it. We must understand that Jesus divided the 
human being as two separate beings combined in one ; the mortal body and 
the spiritual body. We must remember that when He spoke to us of mor- 
tality, and then turned and spoke the very same words to us of spiritual mat- 
ter, those words have altogether a different meaning, and to understand the 
Scriptures we have got to learn to apply the spiritual words to the spiritual 
being, and the mortal words to the mortal being. We cannot apply all to 
this mortal life and get a correct understanding. 


I only find one verse in chapter 
twelve wherein I can bring’ forth right- 
eous teachings for everyday life . “A 
house divided against itself shall not 
stand. ” 


12:25. And Jesus said unto them, 

every kingdom divided against itself is 
brought to desolation; and every city 
or house divided against itself shall 
not stand. 


How many, many divorces are granted just because a house is divided 
against itself ; just because hellfire has driven all the tokens of love to the 
cold? 

I once heard a story of a newly married couple, and the bride possessed 
pure love, though she was not perfect in all her ways. The groom was far 
from being perfect, especially in regard to love, and he soon began to fault 
her in different things, and when he would tell her of some fault she 
would try in future to avoid that fault and do as he thought best. As he 
was an unreasonable fault finder, and would find fault with her continually, 
she one day asked him to be more easy with her, and after talking the mat- 
ter over they agreed to remember each others’ faults but say nothing about 
them for a week, and at the close of the week they would see which could 
show the most faults in the other. 

At this the groom watched himself as closely as he watched his wife, 
with the determination that he would make himself less faulty than her; and 
by thus watching himself he found that he himself had many faults ; but 
they went on until the week rolled around and the day for fault finding 
came, and as he was to take the lead, he began; whilst she amused herself 
in reflecting over the past week as he brought it up. But when she was to 


HOW ARE WE LED? 


208 

take the floor she exclaimed, “ Y— y-y, my dear, you have no faults save 
scolding , and this week you have not said one word, so I have seen no fault 
in you. But he, not being satisfied, proposed to try it over and over again 
with the same result; and so life passed on, and soon the fault finding day 
was foregone, and loving words and loving actions soon ruled the whole 
house. 

Dear reader, could she have conquered Satan in the heart of her com- 
panion , or have kept love in her own bosom by constantly dealing out hellfire 
in exchange for his? Could she have kept a little hell upon earth out of her 
own home by frequently exchanging hellfire? The human tongue is the main 
root of all evil, and when once conquored by loving words and deeds, Christ 
must reign therein. 

I once heard a sister say that she visited a house where the wife acted 
like a new married girl ; that every time that she came near her husband she 
would brush his clothes with her hand, poke back his hair, finger his whis- 
kers or kiss him. This sister said, “ She acts perfectly silly.' 1 ' 

Dear reader, Christ is love : Christ is not only God, but Christ is love\ 
and Jesus said, “ whosoever .... shall be ashamed of me and my works;” 
dear reader, the works of love is the works of Christ. I would rather have 
a suit of drilling brushed with the hand of a loving wife, regardless of what 
my neighbors say, than to have a suit of broadcloth scorched with hellfire, 
that would dazzle in my neighbor’s eye. It was said some twenty-nine 
hundred years ago, and is still a true proverb, that ‘ ‘better is a dinner of 
herbs where love is, than a stalled ox and hatred therewith.” The devil and 
the deviks smart people will sneer at the actions of love, and say that they 
are perfectly silly; but Christ is love , and loving words and loving actions. 
In the last verse that I have quoted, Jesus said, “a house divided against 
itself shall not stand.” How many, many home circles in our present day are 
broken up just because they have two rulers that are divided from Christ , 
which is love: and ninety-nine out of every one hundred would be preserved, 
if the wife — the mother — the queen and ruler over everlasting life, would 
practice those “silly actions” of Christian love rather than deal out those 
lord-like flames of hellfire that burns the last particle of Christian love to a 
crisp. 

Let me ask, how many men that have a property will marry a girl that 
hath not one penny of her own? He will take her into his home circle and 
make her queen of his house, and almost invariably she rules his house and 
his children just as she may choose. Then let me ask, can we find the same 
custom among women that have property? Will she marry a penniless man 
and make him ruler over her land and her children? Can my readers look 
at the man with property, and look at the woman with property, and then 
look at the penniless companion that may. join them and see any difference in 
their dominion? 

An old schoolmate of mine, who had a desire that everything should go 
just as she said, married a man that thought that things ought to go as he 
said they should go. When his wife asked for anything she commanded it v 



rather than to request it, for she was ashamed to submit in the least; she 
was ashamed to show the tokens of Christ — the tokens of love that the sister 
said 1 ‘ looks perfectly silly. ” 

She and her husband were continually in strife, and the neighbors said 
that he was an awful mean man to his wife. After a few years this woman 
died, and her husband married another old schoolmate of mine. This woman 
was not ashamed to show that she loved her husband; she was not ashamed 
to show the tokens of love that the sister said “looked perfectly silly,” and 
her husband was not ashamed to return those tokens of love. Then the 
neighbors said that he used her like a queen. 

This man could see no difference in the mortal bodies of those two women; 
the mortal body of one was just the same as the mortal body of the other; 
no difference in them, but the difference was in the mind. And why should 
he discern a difference in mind? The mind is something that we cannot see, 
cannot hear, cannot smell, cannot taste, or cannot feel. Why should he treat 
those women so differently just on the account of the mind? 

Dear reader, we are mistaken about the mind being invisible or unfelt or 
heard. The difference in those two women was the tongue. The human 
tongue is complete^ ruled by the human mind, and the difference in those 
two women was in the tongue. And when we receive the bitter twangs of 
hellfire that rolls f rom the tongue of a companion, it is then that we realize 
that we are mistaken when we say that the human mind cannot be seen or 
heard. And when that hellfire rolls until it cuts like a two-edged sword, it 
is then that again we realize that we are mistaken when we say that the 
human mind cannot be felt. And when we receive the kind and pleasant 
words and acts of a true companion, we then ought to realize that we see the 
sweetest beauties that a Christian mind can yield, even though those 
words anl acts “look perfectly silly” in the eyes of the children of the 
devil 

In loving or in hating a person, it is truly the mind of that person that 
we love or that we hate I was once eye witness in a case where a man had 
two checks, an $18.00 check and a $24.00 check. His wife wanted those 
checks, and he wanted to use them himself. She began talking roughly to 
him because he would not give her those checks, but when she found that she 
could not drive him to it, she sat down by his side and began using those 
tokens of love. She did not use the holy kiss that the Bible tells us about; 
neither did she use the betraying kiss that Judas used when he betrayed 
Jesus, but she used the hypocritical kiss that Absalom used with “all Israel,” 
when he “stole the hearts of the men of Israel.” And so she gained the 
$18.00 check; but just at that moment her sister stepped into her house and 
her husband slipped the $24. 00 check into her sister’s hand, and she took it 
home with her. After her sister had gone home she sat down again by the 
side of her husband and began to show forth those tokens of love, and ask 
for the $24.00 check, but it was gone; it was impossible for him to give 
her the check ; and when she learned that, hellfire began to blaze. It was 


270 


IIOW ARE WE LED? 


then that I realized that we could see, hear, taste and feel and almost smell 
the very essence of the human mind: and yet the} T say that the mind can not 
be seen. 

Had her husband wilfully resisted her he would have been a downcast in 
society and a subject to civil law. Whilst at that very time that woman 
belonged to a church, and the preachers were making her believe that she 
was on the right road to heaven. 

When a woman knows that she can say what she may please to her hus- 
band and he can not resist it without violating civil law, she knows too much; 
and her knowledge is not from God, but from the devil; and man has no 
recourse whatever except to apply for a divorce. 

In this case when man asks for a divorce the court tells him that there is 
no grounds for a divorce. Then he can go back and make home a bigger 
hell upon earth than it ever has been, take all the shame upon his own shoul- 
ders and let his wife get the divorce. But when the divorce is granted, it 
robs man of his treasures, his ties, his children, and destroys his home and 
his home circle which is just as near and dear to him as they are to woman; 
and it is nothing but the human tongue that does it. I say, let civil law give 
less divorces; know no assault and battery, but go down to the roots of all 
evil, the mortal tongue, and there give the devil his just dues regardless of 
sex. 

Some of my readers will condemn me and say that their mother was a 
woman, that they respect a woman more than I do, etc., but not so. There 
is not a man on earth that respects a good Christian woman more than I do. 
But what Constitutes a Christian? I often say, deliver me from Christianity 
and give me morality; but, dear reader, good moral habits is the true Chris- 
tianity that Jesus taught, whilst popular Christianity takes a person to 
heaven in all of their everyday sins and shortcoming. But those that will 
condemn me here, are only those that say that the Old Testament is abol- 
ished, dead and laid aside, just because it tells us that we have works to do 
of our own free will if we ever gain heaven. 

Our preachers tell us that God foreknew all things before the creation of 
the earth. Here I must disagree with them. God foreplanned his work, 
and had Satan remained dormant his works would have come to his fore- 
planning, then he would have foreknown all things, but Satan overrules man, 
and so overthrows much of God’s foreknowledge. The same with you, dear 
reader; you, in the image of God, foreplan your work as He foreplanned his, 
and if obstruction remains dormant your works will come to your foreknowl- 
edge, but if obstruction steps in, your foreknowledge like God’s is broken. 

Our preachers tell us that it was necessary for God to create the mortal 
body of Jesus — that it was necessary for God to come and dwell in that 
mortal body in order that he might learn and know the trials and temptations 
of human life. In this I agree with them that it was necessary, but this 
saying counteracts the sayings of God’s foreknowledge. 

Our preachers tell us that God knows every thought that enters the 


TEACH CHILDREN LOVE AND KINDNESS. 


571 


human mind, therefore He knows every act that the mortal body commits. 
This saying counteracts the saying of the necessity of God dwelling in the 
body of J esus in order to learn the trials and temptations in human life ; but 
I still hold to the saying that it was necessary that God should dwell in the 
body of Jesus in order to learn those mortal trials. Though Jesus was an 
unmarried man, therefore God saw manifested the trials and temptations of 
a single man. 

I claim that it is just as essential that God creates a body and permits 
that body to become a married man, and it is just as essential for God to 
dwell in that body to learn the trials and temptations of married life as it was 
for Him to dwell in the body of a single man to learn the trials and tempta- 
tions of a bachelor’s life. Therefore I claim that God has created my body 
and permitted me to become a married man, and the very same God that 
dwelt in the body of Jesus, the very same Christ that dwelt in the body of 
Jesus now dwells in me, though 1 am not so strongly possessed of the Spirit 
of God as Jesus was; yet that very same God — that very same Christ dwells 
in me to-day that dwelt in Jesus nineteen hundred years ago. And you, dear 
reader, every one of you that will cleanse your mind and drink freely of the 
Spirit of God, that Jesus called the waters of life, that I call the mind of 
life — the tree of life ; every person that will partake freely of this righteous 
mind of God, will have the very same Christ in them, and so become true 
Christians. Why will ye reject that mind of Christ? and why will ye retain 
the mind of the devil? 

To obtain that Christ, to have that Christ in us, there are three things 
that we must practice in every day life. First. To ask our companion in a 
mild and pleasant tone, not in a tone of anger. Second. If our companion 
does different from what we would do, let us kindly show them how to change 
their doings, for we can accomplish far more with kindness than we can with 
unpleasant words Third. Teach our children to love all kind of godly 
words and actions from their infancy up, that they may be still more perfect 
than we. 

Let us cultivate that loving mind and practice those actions of godliness 
at home in every day life and labor, that we may say that that very same 
Christ — that very same God that dwelt and reigned in the bosom of J esus, 
dwells and reigns in your own bosom to-day That same Christ will be in 
you, if those sisters do say that those actions ‘ 1 look perfectly silly. ” 

But we have left the eleventh chapter of Matthew away behind. 


Let us turn back to that, and we find 
in the 29th verse that Jesus said be 
meek and lowly in heart and ye shall 
find rest in your soul— find rest in your 
mind. 


11:29. Learn of me; fori am meek 
and lowly in heart, and ye shall find 
rest unto your souls. 


There is no danger of hysterics, no danger of insanity, no danger of sui- 
cide if the mind finds rest in meekness and lowliness. Don’t be ashamed to 


079 

fJ i 


HOW ARE WE LED? 


show to the world that you have love and rest in your mind. Let the by- 
standers say what that they may. 

The thirteenth chapter is all of parables of the kingdom of heaven, but 
nothing to tell us what to do to gain that kingdom. The fourteenth chapter 
tells us of the beheading of John the Baptist, also tells of Jesus walking on 
the water, but that does not teach us what we shall do to gain heaven. The 
fifteenth chapter is also a history of His great miracles and works ; those are 
things that we cannot do, but the eleventh verse tells us that the human 
tongue is what defileth man. 


In the eighth verse He tells us that 
our woi'ds honoreth him, but our hearts 
(that is our mind) are far from him. 

The 6th, 11th and 12th verses of the 
16th chapter are expressly to me, and ex- 
pressly to every person who will lean 
upon righteous judgment, who will not 
take the doctrine of such strong faith 
without works. 

Then we pass on to the 22nd verse of 
the 18th chapter before we find another 
verse wherein Jesus tells us what to do 
to gain an interest in heaven . There 
He tells us to cultivate a loving mind, 
and a forgiving nature. And the next 
thing that J esus tells us to do is to keep 
the commandments. 

In the 22nd chapter He teaches us to 
practice a loving disposition. 

In the three first verses of the 23 rd 
chapter Jesus tells us that we must 
do something: He tells us to do as the 
Old Testament tells us to do. He tells 
us not to do as the scribes do, but as 
they tell us to do. He tells us to do the 
good works as described, but not to fol- 
low the evil examples that are recorded 
there. Then He goes on to describe 
the evil doings of the hypocrites. 

In the 24th chapter He warns his 
disciples of their trouble, and tells 
them to keep the Sabbath day. 


15: 11. That which cometh out of the 
mouth, this defileth a man 

8. This people draweth nigh unto 
me with their mouth, and honoreth me 
with their lips; but their heart is far 
from me. 

16: 6. Take heed and beware of the 
leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sad- 
ducees (of the present day as well as in 
those days). 

11. I speak it not to you concerning' 
bread. 

12. Then understood they how that 
He bade them not beware of the leaven 
of the bread, but of the doctrine of the 
Pharisees and of the Sadducees. 

18: 21. Peter. . . .said, Lord, how oft 
shall my brother sin against me and I 
forgive him, till seven times? 

22. Jesus saith....I say not unto 
the, until seven times; but until seventy 
times seven. 

19: 7. If thou wilt enter into life, 
keep the commandments. 

22: 37. Thou shalt love the Lord thy 
God with all thy heart. . . .and with all 
thy mind. 

39. Thou shalt love thy neighbor as 
thyself. 

23: 1. Then spake Jesus saying: 

2. The scribes and Pharisees sit in 
Moses’ seat. 

3. All therefore whatsoever they bid 
you observe, that observe and do; but 
do not ye after their works; for they 
say and do not. 

24: 20. But pray ye that your flight 
be not in the winter, neither on the 
Sabbath day. 


The twenty-fifth chapter is parables; that is, Jesus tells a story and com- 
pares it with spiritual views. The twenty-sixth, twenty-seventh and twenty- 
eighth chapters are naught but a record of His arrest, trial and crucifixion, 
and His appearance after His resurrection. 

By close observation we find that the book of Matthew has one thousand 


JESUS CHRIST WAS PERFECTION. 


273 


seventy-one verses; only twenty- three of them touch points wherein Jesus 
tells us what to do to gain an interest in heaven. The remaining ten hun- 
dred forty-nine are a sketch of the records of where Jesus went, the miracles 
that Jesus did, and the stories that He told, that He called parables. 


I say that they are only a sketch of 
the records, because John says that they 
are only a sketch. 

Those travels that Jesus made, and 
those miracles that Jesus did, are 
wholly out of our power to do; but the 
parables that Jesus made — the s'ories 
that He told as a comparison, our 
preachers relate them daily in the pul- 
pits. 

Now as for how wo shall try to gain heaven I ask, wherein do we gain 
knowledge by studying the book of Matthew? I will tell you wherein I gain 
knowledge by studying it: The travels that Jesus made does not affect 
righteousness in the least, one way or another. The parables that Jesus 
gave us gives us an idea of our spiritual happiness in heaven, if we work to 
gain that happiness : also gives us an idea of the sufferings that we encounter 
with if we fail to gain that heaven. And as for the records of His miracles, 
they teach us of the power that Jesus had, just because He so fully possessed 
the mind of God — just because He was created in perfection, born in per- 
fection, raised in perfection for and kept Himself fully prepared to possess 
so great a portion of the mind of God. 


John 21: 25 And there are also many 
other things which Jesus did, the which 
if they should be written every one, 1 
suppose that even the world itself could 
not contain the books that should be 
written. 


But as for the miracles themselves, 
we cannot do one of them. 

Why? 

Just because we are not possessed of 
enough of the mind of God. 

Faith is only the works of -the mind, 
and Jesus himself tells us that there is 
where we lack in power. 

Can anyone tell us that a mere sketch 
of the records of travels of Jesus, and 
of the miracles that he performed, 
which cannot affect righteousness 
either one way or the other: can they 
tel I us that those sketches are a testa- 
ted will of Jesus to the world ? I be- 
lieve (as John said) that Jesus gave us 
much teachings, what to do, and how 
to do, to become a true Christian. But 
the matters which most excited the 
mind were written down, whilst the 
more common things, which were more 
weighty, and most needed to be record- 
ed were omitted. 


Matt. 14 : 25. Jesus went unto them, 
walking on the sea. 

28. And Peter said, Lord, if it be 

thou, bid me come unto thee on the 
water. 

29. And he said, Come. And when 
Peter. . . .walked on the water, 

30. He was afraid, and began to sink. 

31. And. .. .Jesus. .. .said O thou 
of little faith, wherefore didst thou 
doubt? 

17 : 14. There came to him a certain 
man. . . .saying, 

15. Lord, have mercy on my son; 

16. For I brought him to thy disci- 
ples, and they could not cure him. 

17. Then Jesus. . . .said, O faithless, 

. . . .how long shall I suffer you? Bring 
him hither to me. 

18. And Jesus rebuked the devil; 
and .... the child was cured from that 
very hour. 

19. Then came the disciples to Jesus 
....and said, Why could not we cast 
him out? 

20. And Jesus said .... Because of 
your unbelief. 


274 


HOW ARE WE LED? 


Our preachers tell us that every word of the New Testament is an inspira- 
tion from God, and a testated will of Jesus. I admit that every thought that 
enters the human mind is an inspiration, either from God or from the devil, 
either direct or indirect. If our thoughts come to us direct from God, they 
are direct inspirations from God; if they come to us through some other per- 
son, they are indirect inspirations from God. The same with the devil: if evil 
thoughts originate in us, they are direct inspirations from the devil ; whilst if 
they come to us through others, they are indirect inspirations from the very 
same devil. 

If the four first books of the New Testament came to Matthew, Mark, 
Luke and John, originally, they were direct inspirations to them; but if 
those things came to those men through the works and words of Jesus, they 
were inspirations from God, but indirect inspirations. But director indirect, 
those men failed to write down all of those inspirations, for “if they should 
be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain 
the books that should be written. ” — John 21 : 25. 

I claim my work to be a direct inspiration to me from God, not given to me 
through the teachings of any other person. 


Now we turn to the book of Mark, 
and we find him to begin his writings 
in the midst of the teachings of Jesus. 
And in a very few moments we can 
sketch the records of Jesus for six 
years, without a word of his teachings, 
nothing but his baptism, his parables, 
his miracles, and his travels, which we 
can take no part in, except to be bap- 
tized and to relate his parables. 


Mark 7 : 7. Howbeit in vain do they 
worship me, teaching for doctrines the 
commandments of men. 

8. For laying aside the command- 
ments of God, ye hold the traditions of 
men. 

9. And he said unto them, Full well 
ye reject the commandments of God, 
that ye may keep your own traditions. 


When we come to the seventh chapter, the 7th, 8th, and 9th verses, we 
find Jesus chiding them for not obeying the commandments of God as writ- 
ten in the Old Testament without changing one of them, or giving one more 
than is given in the Old Testament. This proves to us that the doctrine of 
Jesus gives us works as well as faith whereby we shall gain heaven. 


Some boys inherit a mild and pleas- 
ant disposition from their mother. 
When they become men, they may 
drink all the strong drink that they 
desire, and they will still show a mild 
and pleasant disposition. 


15. There is nothing. .. .that enter- 
ing into (man) can defile him: but 

the things which come out of him, 
those are they that defile the man. 


Other boys who inherit a cross and crabbed disposition from their mother, 
in later years may try to hide or improve their natural disposition, yet when 
you give them strong drink, they will show all that is in them. A person 
filled with strong drink will show his inherited disposition, let it be good or 
bad. It is not the strong drink that goes into the mild and pleasant disposi- 


EVTL THOUGHTS FROM THE HEART. 


275 


tioned boy that defiles him ; but it is the natural meanness that comes out of 
the ill-natured man (when intoxicated) that defiles him. 

But Jesus goes on to say, “It cannot defile him; because it entereth not 
into his heart.” — 18th and 19th verses. But what is the heart? The strong 
drink enters into the blood, and the blood passes through the mortal heart, 
but the heart that Jesus spoke of is the mind; the strong drink does not enter 
into a man’s natural disposition, but it brings his natural disposition out, so 
that the whole world may see it. In verses 21 and 23, He goes on to say, 
“From within, out of the heart of man, proceed evil thoughts.” “All these 
evil things come from within, and defileth the man.” 


Then we pass on to the eighth chap- 
ter, and we also find it a sketch of his 
travels, miracles, and parables, until 
we come to the 34th verse, where we 
find we’ve something to do for ourselves, 
and what is it? Our world is full of 
selfishness; if we want anything, we 
must have it just as we want it, or we 
must have hellfire rolling. 


8: 34. And when he had called the 
people unto him with his disciples also, 
he said unto them, Whosoever will come 
after me, let him deny himself, and 
take up his cross, and follow me. 

35. For whosoever will save his life 
shall lose it: but whosoever shall lose 
his life for my sake and the gospel’s, 
the same shall save it. 


It makes no difference whether we want it to eat, to drink, or to wear, or 
whether we want it just to look at, if we cannot have it, we must have a little 
hell upon earth. 

Though the sermons of Jesus were not recorded, yet He taught us that 
we have a great work to do in order to gain heaven. Yet all that we have 
to do to gain that kingdom is to bridle our own tongues, and to love all kinds 
of righteousness, especially in our home circle and in every day business, but 
that is a great work. If the human tongue were speechless, righteousness 
would reign triumphantly over hell upon this earth, and through all eternity. 
To love righteousness is to love right, to hate wrong ; for all the definition to 
righteousness is right, not wrong. 

We cannot step into righteousness; we have got to grow into it. We 
must remember that, with the exception of Abraham, Jacob, Moses, Jesus, 
and a few others, from Adam’s day to the present time, we have been con- 
stantly growing out of righteousness; and we cannot step back in one short 
step, but we have got to grow back. We must remember that our mother 
Eve took the lead in growing out of righteousness, and our mothers must 
take the lead in growing into righteousness again. 

It was right to obey God’s word; and all that mother Eve did to step out 
of righteousness was to quit doing right; and all that our mothers have got 
to do to-day, to lead back into righteousness, is to obey God’s word by trying 
to do right. 

A sister who married a man who by nature was as disagreeable a man to 
live with as woman ever tried to live with, told me that she got along with 
him all right, just by humoring him. She said that when he was determined 
to do a thing, she, against her own will, would turn in and help him to do it, 


276 


HOW ARE WE LED? 


and say but little about it. But when he was not angry she could, through 
all tokens of love, persuade him to do just as she wanted him to do. She said 
that when he was determined that, through his malice, she should ill-treat 
others, she would do so, though it sometimes threw burdens upon her that 
were not pleasant to her, yet she would rather do wrong away from home 
than to suffer hellfire and torment at home. 

Dear reader, she was trying to live a Christian life at home first, regard- 
less of what her neighbors had to say. 


She was not ashamed to show that 
she loved to do the will of her husband. 
Christ will not be ashamed of her when 
she meets Him in heaven. She was 
constantly trying, “of the two evils to 
choose the least.” 


38. Whosoever, therefore, shall be 
ashamed of me and of my words, in this 
adulterous and sinful generation, of 
him also shall the Son of Man be 
ashamed, when he comes in the glory 
of the Father with the holy angels. 


If all wives, if all mothers, would constantly try to practice this through 
life, to-day our men, by nature — by an inherited nature — would be far 
more pleasant and agreeable than they are. Our inheritance would improve 
from generation to generation, until our men would become docile, and our 
women would become rulers through love. 


The next instructions that we find, 
are in the eleventh and twelfth chapters, 
teaching us to practice a loving nat- 
ure. Why not show to the world — 
through those tokens of love ‘ ‘ that 
look perfectly silly,” that we are fol- 
lowing his advice, — that we are walk- 
ing in the doctrine of Jesus ? 

The remainder of the book of Mark 
sketches his foretelling of the calam- 
ities of the Jews, foretelling the be- 
traying by Judas, and the arrest, trial, 
crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus. 

In the book of Mark, we find six 
hundred seventy-eight verses; only 
twelve of them give us any idea of 
what we shall do to gain the happiness 
that is pomised us; and that happiness 
is what we all are seeking for. 


11: 25. Forgive, if ye have aught 
against any: that your Father also 
which is in heaven may forgive you 
your trespasses. 

(26) But if ye do not forgive, neither 
will your Father which is in heaven 
forgive your trespasses. 

(12 : 30) Thou shalt love the Lord thy 
God with ... all thy mind . . . .this is the 
first commandment. 

(31) And the second is Thou shalt 

love thy neighbor as thyself. 

(32) And the scribe said .... thou 
hast said the truth: for there is one 
God; and there is none other but he: 

(33) And to love him. . . .with all the 

understanding is more than all 

whole burnt offerings and sacrifices. 

(34) And when Jesus saw that He 
answered discreetly, He said unto him, 
thou art not far from the kingdom of 
God. 


In our prayers we tell God that we are trying to live a righteous life 
for the sake of Jesus; but if God knows every thought that enters the mind 
of man, he knows whether we are doing it for the sake of Jesus, or for our 
own sake, and the sake of our friends; if God knows every thought that 
enters the human mind, He knows whether we are telling him the truth or 
a lie. 


HOW TO LOVE GOD. 


277 


The twelve verses found in Mark instructs us in some way of what we 
shall do to gain heaven, but wherein does the six hundred sixty-six verses 
aflect righteousness in the least ? that is, wherein do those verses give us 
any idea what to do, or what not to do to become righteous ? It is neces- 
sary that we have those teachings, to prove to us that Jesus was the Christ, 
and to show us the power that He had, just by making his body the dwell- 
ing place of the Spirit of that God. It is also necessary that we have other 
teachings with those, to show us how to make our own body a dwelling 
place for the very same Spirit of the very same God. 


CHAPTER XXVII. 

John’s teachings, How to love God. Jesus tells us to keep the law of Moses. 
Searching for the sermons of the Apostles. Much evidence that Jesus was a 
great teacher. 

Now we turn to the Book of Luke, and we find it to begin with the 
appearance of the angel of the Lord to Zacharias, and from that to the 
angel appearing to Mary, the mother of Jesus. And so on to the birth of 
Jesus, and to the prophesy of Zacharias, but no instructions to us. The 
second chapter sketches the early part of Jesus’ life, with the same result 
to us. 

The third chapter tells us that “ the word of God came unto John,” who 
began to preach younger than what Jesus began. 

And we get a mere sketch of his ser- Luke 3 : 11. He that hath two coats, 
mons, and he tells us that we have let him impart to him that hath none; 
something to do on our part. and he that hath meat, let him do like- 

wise. 

“He that hath two coats, let him impart to him that hath none.” 
Though we find those words in the Bible, let us again lean upon righteous 
judgment, — the staff that God gives to every human being. If your own 
righteous judgment tells you, because you have earned and have got two 
coats, give me one for I have not earned any, do so ; but I fear that we would 
find many that would think it easier to let you earn two coats than for them 
to earn one. If we want to be righteous people, we must have charity, but 
we must use our own judgment as to who is worthy of charity. Further- 
more, I believe if we had John’s whole sermon to reflect upon, it would cast 
a different light on those words. 

I say if we had John’s whole sermon. 18. And many other things in his 
Luke says “many other things preached exhortation preached he unto the peo- 
he.” Pie. 

Yet we get more instructions from John what we shall do for our own 
soul’s salvation, than what we get from the sermons of Jesus. 


278 


HOW ARE WE LED? 


John tells us in the thirteenth and fourteenth verses, to “exact no more 
than that which is appointed you; ” “do violence to no man, neither accuse 
any falsely. ” 

We get twenty verses that sketch the records of John in his preachings: 
three of those verses tell us something to do to gain that righteous happi- 
ness. This makes a little more than one out of seven, whilst the four first 
books of the New Testament — sketching the records of Jesus — contain 
thirty-seven hundred seventy-nine verses; and of those, only ninety-four 
sketch his sermons, as to our righteous doings. This makes a little less 
than one out of forty. 


Jesus being the greatest preacher ever on earth, the New Testament — in 
sketching his records — less than one verse in forty instruct us how to live, 
whilst in sketching the records of John, a little more than one out of seven 
give us such instructions. I truly believe this to be frailty in the writers 
who were inspired: not frailty in God that inspired. I truly believe that 
the writers’ minds were too much on the miracles that Jesus did, and not 
enough on the sermons that he preached. 

Now we turn back to the records of Jesus, and we pass on to the sixth 


chapter before we find another verse of 

Here He tells us to cultivate our 
minds to a kind and loving' nature, 
though we are wrongfully used. This 
seems hard for us to do, but let us try 
to practice it among* our own friends, 
practice and teach it in our home 
circle 

In this chapter we find seven verses 
that g*ive us righteous teachings that 
we can practice, but we find no such 
teachings in the seventh, eighth or 
ninth chapters. But when we come to 
the tenth chapter, we get more of His 
teachings there. 

Jesus asked the lawyer, “what is 
written in the law?” And the lawyer 
selected love alone, and said that we 
shall love God with all the power im- 
aginable. Jesus said “do this and thou 
shalt live.” But I don’t believe that 
that lawyer knew how to love God No 
I don’t believe that one in ten thousand 
on the face of the earth to-day knows 
how to love God. 


righteous instruction. 

6 : 27. But I say unto you which hear, 
love your enemies, do good to them 
which hate you. 

(28) Bless them that curse you, and 
pray for them which despitefully use 
you. 

(35) Love ye your enemies. 

(36) Be ye therefore merciful. 

(37) Forgive and ye shall be for- 
given. 

(38) Give and it shall be given unto 
you. 

(42) Cast out first the beam out of 
thine own eye, and then shalt thou see 
clearly to pull out the mote that is in 
thy brother’s eye. 

10:25. And. . . .a certain lawyer. .. . 
tempted him, saying, Master, what 
shall I do to inherit eternal life? 

(26) He said unto him, what is writ- 
ten in the law? how readest thou? 

(27) And he. . . .said, thou shalt love 
the Lord thy God with all thy heart, 
and with all thy soul, and with all thy 
strength, and with all thy mind; 

(28) And He [Jesus] said unto him, 
thou hast answered right: this do, 
and thou shalt live. 


The only way that we can love God is to love godliness: love' every ad, 
thought and deed that is right. Love no act, thought, or deed that is wrong. 


LOVE GOD AND FEAR THE DEVIL. 


279 


That is all the love that we can have for God, and we should possess that 
love with all our might, mind and strength. 

In the eleventh chapter He is teaching us that a short prayer is just as 
good as a long, highly polished prayer. 

In the ninth verse He tells us to ask, 11 : 9. Ask, and it shall be given you; 
seek, and knock, and we shall receive; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it 

shall be opened unto you. 

W e shall receive spiritual light, whereby we will gain everlasting happi- 
ness in heaven; and if we get that true light in our home circle, we will taste 
that happiness here upon this earth. But Christian light has got to shine in 
the bosom of both companions, in order to make a true heaven below in the 
home circle. 


Jesus opened the Old Testament, 28. Blessed art they that hear the 
searched out the word of God and ex- word of God, and keep it. 
pounded it. 

This He found in Psalms 2 : 12; 84 : 4; 106 :3; 111 : 2; and Prov. 8 .33; 
and in Isaiah 30 : 18, before the New Testament was written. 


In the twelfth chapter, Jesus tells 
us to fear not them who have power 
to kill the mortal body, but have no 
farther power. 

Let me ask, what does life— in this 
mortal body — as we generally live, 
amount to? 


12:4. Be not afraid of them that kill 
the body, and after that have no more 
that they can do. 

(5) But. .. .fear him which after he 
hath killed hath power to cast into 
hell; yea, I say unto you, fear him. 


We come into this world with nothing, and the first fifteen or twenty 
years of this life, we have nothing of our own to care for. It is then that 
we enjoy life; it is then that life is sweet; it is then that we may fear them 
that kill the mortal body and cast off the sweetness of this life. But in 
later years we begin to possess what we call the good things of this world. 
We toil, fatigue, and wear out this mortal body, and what is it for ? It is to 
gain what we call the pleasures and comforts of life. But they are not 
pleasures, when our minds are continually harrassed and tormented over 
them; and the more that we have the more our mind is tormented. And 
‘ 1 the mind is all that makes us man. ” If they torture and torment the 
mind, can they be pleasures ? Can they be comforts, when the toils and 
fatigues of the mortal body, in providing and looking after them, cause 
pains and torments to the mortal body, instead of comforts ? They give 
torture and torment to the mortal body, and harrass and trouble to 
the mind : Wherein are they pleasures and comforts of life ? They are 
necessities of life, but we so often go so far beyond the actual necessities. 

But Jesus said: “ fear him, which after he hath killed hath power to 
cast into hell.” This is the devil, and the devil alone: and it is only a 
small portion of the devil, it is only that branch of the devil that dwells in 
your own bosom. He, from your very birth, creeps so slowly and slily into 


280 


HOW ARE WE LED? 


your bosom that you become accustomed to his ways and his works that 
you lose all fear; ye know not what to fear, or how to fear, yet his power 
is great. Don’t fear God, but fear the devil, and love God, for God is love 
in return. A true God can not be wrath, but love. 

I once knew a family that were getting along very well in this life; the 
husband loved his wife and he would do anything in his power to gain any 
thing that his wife deemed a comfort or a pleasure. He was a plain man and 
cared not for his own dress or pleasure, but loved to see his wife have any 
thing she might want. He wore out his own body by working day and night, 
Sundays not excepted, to gain anything that his wife desired. She could go 
where she pleased, and when she pleased, and return at leisure. She kept a 
nice house, but never did but little work in the field. In fact she was en- 
joying the pleasures and comforts of life, and her husband delighted in seeing 
her do so. But the devil kindled a little fire in her bosom and the flames 
rolled off from her mortal tongue. Her actions, her doings, did not displease 
her husband, but only the hellfire that rolled from the mortal tongue; and it 
rolled to such an extent that it caused her husband to leave his home ; that 
hellfire drove him into the world as penniless as in his infancy. It caused, 
her to become a farm hand and a care-worn object; she would not go where 
and when she pleased, and come back at her leisure; she could not fix up her 
house as before; she even says that she can not get time to write a letter to 
her beloved ones. Though she had all of the property, it was not so much 
of a pleasure and a comfort of life as it was when she had only a share in it. 

Had this woman have been taught, from her infancy up, what that the 
devil is, where the devil dwells, and how the devil does his work, and that 
the hellfire that rolls from the mortal tongue makes the home circle a perfect 
hell upon this earth; and had she have been taught, from infancy up, to love 
God with all her might, mind and strength, by loving all kind of godly words 
and works — by hating all kind of sinful words and works, to-day her little 
home would be 


A heaven below, where all people would know, 

That the angels could do nothing more. 

Than to fall at her feet, and a story repeat, 

That the devil n’er entered her door. 

But we turn back to the seventeenth chapter of Luke, and here Jesus says 
to the righteous, “the kingdom of God cometh not with observation,” but 
“the kingdom of God is within you.” Dear reader, the kingdom of God is 
in every house where the mother — without anger — rules and compels her 
children to obey her commands, and makes her little home a heaven below, 
regardless of the father. But the kingdom of heaven can not be with every 
father regardless of the mother. 


WE MUST USE COMPULSION. 


281 


Again Jesus tells us that we have 
something to do within ourselves; cit- 
ing us to the Old Testament He tells us 
to keep the commandments. And He 
tells us that we must use compulsion. 
I tell you to use compulsion and 
I tell you to use it without anger; 
and the ones to use it on are your own 
dear, little infants, and the time to use 
it is before they learn to be headstrong. 
But in Jesus’ compulsory teachings, we 
do not get but very little of his words. 

Those men tell us that Jesus taught 
them the Scriptures from the Old Tes- 
tament after he had risen, and before 
the New Testament was written. 


18: 18. A certain ruler asked him. . . . 
what shall I do to inherit eternal life? 
(19) Jesus said, (20) thou knowest the 
commandments. 

22:35. When I sent you without 
purse, and scrip and shoes, lacked ye 
anything? And they said, Nothing! 

(36) Then said He unto them, but now, 
he that hath a purse let him take it 
and likewise his scrip ; and he that 
hath no sword, let him sell his garment 
and buy one. 

(37) For. . . .this that is written must 
yet be accomplished. 

24: 32. Did not our hearts burn with- 
in us, while He talked with us by the 
way, and while He opened to us the 
Scriptures? 


Now we have passed through the book of Luke with the same result as that 
of Matthew and of Mark. 


Luke tells us that Jesus was a great 19: 47. And he taught daily in the 
teacher, and that He taught daily, yet temple, 
he does not give us his sermons. 

Now, we take up the book of John, and we find more righteous instruc- 
tions in this book— we find less records of Jesus’ miracles, his parables and 
his travels, than in the three first books. Yet we only find nine verses in 
this book that instruct us what to do in our daily walk, to gain an interest in 
heaven. And the first instruction that we get in this book, is found in the 
fourteenth verse of the fifth chapter. Here Jesus tells us to “sin no more.” 
Those three words include all in every day life. 


In the forty-sixth verse we find Jesus 
instructing us that we must believe the 
writings of Moses, in the Old Testa- 
ment. If we cannot believe Moses’ 
writings how can we believe His 
words? 

One of these verses tells us to use 
righteous judgment; that is my doctrine 
from the beginning; let us depend upon 
our own minds; our ow7 1 judgment will 
tell us what is right in the sight of 
God. 

As I said, in the Book of John, we 
find nine verses instructing us what to 
do of ourselves to become righteous. 


John, 5: 46. For had ye believed 
Moses, ye would have believed Me; (47) 
but if ye believe not his writings, how 
shall ye believe My words? 

(7: 19) Did not Moses give you the law 
and yet none of you keepeth the law? 

(24) Judge not according to the ap- 
pearance, but judge righteous judg- 
ment. 

(8: 11) Jesus said unto her. . . .go, and 
sin no more. 

(34) I say unto you, whosoever com- 
mitteth sin is the servant of sin. 

(14: 15) If ye love Me keep my com- 
mandments. 

(21) He that hath My commandments 
and keepeth them, he it is that loveth 
Me. 


And the instructions are thus: In five of those nine verses Jesus tells us 
to believe Moses’ writings and do as they instruct us — believe Moses and keep 


i 


282 


HOW ARE WE LED? . 


his commandments. Jesus gave us not one commandment of himself, but 
we find some twenty-eight commandments in the Old Testament that Jesus 
tells us to keep. In two of those nine verses Jesus tells us to sin no more; if 
we sin no more we keep Moses’ writings. In one of those nine verses he says, 
“whosoever committeth sin, is the servant of sin,” whilst the ninth one says, 
“judge righteous judgment.” That is my doctrine to the letter; your own 
mind will tell you what is right and what is wrong, though your lips may de- 
ceive you. Those who live up to Moses’ writings because civil law compels 
them to, are outside of the doctrine of Jesus; and the Jews that lived up to 
Moses’ writings because civil law compelled them to, were sinners outside of the 
doctrine of Jesus. But those that believed Moses’ writings, and lived up to 
them of their own free will, were righteous people, and Jesus said, “I came 
not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. ” 

Moses and the prophets gave us some twenty-eight commandments, 
which they said were God’s commandments, telling us “thou 
shalt” do those things, and “thou shalt not” do other things. 
Jesus did not give us one commandment in the whole New Testament, but He 
repeated some of God’s commandments which had already been given us; and 
the Christ that dwelt in the body of Jesus called them his commandments. 
And that very Christ also said, “I and My Father are one,” “all things that 
the Father hath are Mine,” “I am in the Father, and the Father in Me:” “Ye 
shall know that I am in the Father;” “Ye may know and believe that the Fa- 
ther is in Me;” “I am not alone, but I and the Father that sent Me;” “I am 
come in ]yiy Father’s name ;” ‘ ‘I can of Mine own self do nothing .... because 
I seek not Mine own will, but the will of the Father.” — John, 5: 30, 43; 8:16; 
10:30,38; 14:11, 20; and 16:15. Jesus’Father said of those very same command- 
ments found in the Old Testaments, ‘ ‘It is easier for heaven and earth to 
pass, than one tittle of the law to fail.” “Till heaven and earth pass one 
jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law till all be fulfilled.” — Matt. 
5:18; Luke 16:17. 

As Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, give us scarcely a word that Jesus 
said in His sermons, instructing us how to live, any more than He instructed 
us to believe “the writings of Moses,” and “keep them.” I shall now search 
to see if J esus was a preacher — if He did preach any sermons that they could 
have recorded. And we begin with Matthew 4:23, “Jesus went about all 
Galilee, teaching in their synogogues and preaching the gospel.” (5:17) 
“Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets. I am not 
come to destroy, but to fulfil.” (18) “For verily I say unto you, till hea- 
ven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in nowise pass from the law, 
till all be fulfilled,” (19) “Whosoever therefore shall break one of these 
least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in 
the kingdom of heaven.” (7:29) “For he taught them as one having au- 
thority, and not as the scribes.” (12) “Whatsoever ye would that men 
should do to you, do ye even so to them; for this is the law and the prophets.” 
(9:35) “Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their 


TEACHING DAILY IN THE TEMPLE. 


283 


synagogues and preaching the gospel of the kingdom.” (13:54) “Am? 
when He was come into his own country, He taught them in their synagogues, 
insomuch that they were astonished and said, whence hath this man his wis~ 
dom, and these mighty works?” (21:23) “The people came unto him as 
he was teaching and said, (22:16) We know thou art true and teacheth the 
way of God in truth. ” (40) “On those two commandments hang all the 

law and the prophets. ” (23:23) “Ye have omitted the weightier mat- 

ters of the law.” (26:55) “I sat daily with you teaching in the temple.” 
(28:20). “Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have com- 
manded you.” (Mark, 1:22) “He taught them as one that had author- 
ity. ” (6:2) ‘ ‘And when the Sabbath day was come, He began to teach in 

the synagogues ; and many hearing Him were astonished saying from whence has 
this man these things? and what wisdom is this which is given unto Him?” 

(34) “And Jesus began to teach them many things.” (10:1) “As 

He was wont, He taught them again, and they said, (12: 14) Master, we 

know that Thou art true, and teachest the way of God in truth. ” (35) 

“Jesus answered while He taught in the temple.” (Luke, 4:16) “As 

His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood 
up for to read” (17) “the Book of the Prophet Esaias. ” (13: 10) “And he was 
teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath/’ (26) “And thou hast 
taught in our streets. ”(19 : 47) ‘ ‘And He taught daily in the temple/’ (20:1) 
“As He taught the people in the temple, and preached the gospel;” (21) 
“Master, we know that Thou sayest and teachest rightly, neither esceptest 
Thou the person of any, but teachest the way of God truly.” (23:5) “He 
stirreth up the people, teaching throughout all Jewry.’* (24: 25) “Then He 
said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets 
have spoken.” (John, 3:2) “We know Thou art a teacher come from 
God.” (7 : 14) “Jesus went up into the temple and taught.” (28) “Then 
cried Jesus in the temple as He taught.” (8: 2) “And early in the morn- 
ing He came again into the temple and He sat down and taught them. ” 

(28) “As my Father hath taught Me, I speak these things. ” (10:34) “Is 

it not written in your law?” (15:25) “They hated Me without a cause.” 
(18:20) “I ever taught in the synagogues and in the temples.” 

Now we find thirty-six verses that tell us that Jesus was a great preacher, 
and that He preached daily in the temples and in the synagogues ; but not one 
sermon is recorded. How does any person know what the doctrine of Jesus 
was? In all that He instructed us in his sermons, we only find ninety-five 
verses — or about 1,900 words that we can get anything out of — and many of 
those verses are one verse, repeated two or three times by the two or three 
writers of the four books. 

They give us His travels, His miracles, and His parables, and a slight 
sketch of His words, and tell us that that is His testated will. 

If it was His testated will that His travels, His miracles and His parables 
of the kingdom of heaven, should be all that we should get, why did He tell 
His Apostles to preach to the world as He had preached. 


284 


HOW ARE WE LED? 


All that we can get from His records, His history, His sermons, prove to 
us that He taught righteousness precisely the same as Moses taught it; any 
more than He magnified their precepts by His words and parables as He 
opened their understanding and taught them to live up to Moses’ writings of 
their own will and desire, whilst Moses compelled his people by civil law. 

Now, we will turn to the Book of the Acts of the Apostles to find their 
sermons; as Jesus, in His testated will, told them to teach the people as He 
had taught them — we will search for the words that they gave in their ser- 
mons. 

But as we will see that they opened the Scriptures and expounded the law 
and the prophets, we will recollect that the true meaning of the word Scrip- 
ture does not include all civil law, neither does it include the records of the 
evil words — acts and deeds of the evil kings and hypocrites, or the traditions 
of man — those things are not Scripture because they are put into the Bible. 
The word Scripture does not mean everything that is found in the Bible and 
nothing more. So, when I say Scripture, I mean righteous teachings — let 
them be found where they may. And righteous means right, not wrong. 

Now we turn to the Book of Acts and we find nothing in regard to the 
Apostle’s preaching until we reach 4:2. “Being grieved that they taught 
the people and preached, through Jesus, the resurrection from the dead. ” 
(5:21) “They entered into the temple early in the morning and taught.” 
(25) “The men whom ye put in prison are standing in the temple and teach- 
ing the people. ” (42) “They ceased not to teach and preach.” (23:5) 

“They preached the word of Giod in the synagogues of the Jews.’* (15) 
“After the reading of the law and the prophets,” (16) “Paul stood up, 
and beckoning with his hands, said, (17) ‘ ‘the God of this people of Israel 
chose our fathers and exalted the people when they dwelt as strangers in 
the land of Egypt, and with a high arm brought He them out of it, (18) 
and about the time of forty years suffered He their manners in the wilderness ; 
(19) and when He had destroyed seven nations in the land of Canaan, He 
divided their land to them by lot, (20) and after that He gave unto them 
judges about the space of 450 years, until Samuel, the prophet. (21) And 
afterward they desired a king : and God gave unto them Saul, the son of Cir, 
a man of the tribe of Benjamin, by the space of forty years. (22) And 
when He had removed him, He raised up unto them David to be their king, 
to whom also He gave testimony, and said, I have found David, the son of 
Jesse, a man after mine own heart, which shall fulfill all my will. (23) Of 
this man’s seed hath God, according to His promise, risen unto Israel a Sav- 
ior, Jesus. (24) When John had first preached before His coming the 
baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel; (25) and as John fulfilled 
his course, he said, whom think ye I am? I am not He! But, behold, 
there cometh One after me, whose shoes of His feet I am not worthy to 
loose. (26) Men and brethren, children of the stock of Abraham, and 
whosoever among you feareth God, to you is the word of this salvation sent. 
(27) For they that dwell at Jerusalem, and their rulers, because the} knew 


TEACHING TRUE RIGHTEOUSNESS 


285 


him not, nor yet the voice of the prophets, which are read every Sabbath 
day, they have fulfilled them in condemning him. (28) And though they 
found no cause of death in him, yet desired they Pilate that he should be 
slain. (29) And when they had fulfilled all that was written of him, they 
took him down from the tree, and laid him in the sepulchre. (30) But 
God raised him from the dead: (31) And he was seen many days of them 
which came up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are his witness unto 
the people. (32) And we declare unto you glad tidings, how that the 
promise which was made unto the fathers, (33) God hath fulfilled the 
same unto us their children, in that he hath risen up Jesus again; as it is 
also written in the second psalm, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten 
thee. (34) And as concerning that he raised him up from the dead, now 
no more to return to corruption, he said on this wise, I will give you the 
sure mercies of David. (35) Wherefore he saith also in another psalm, 
Thou shalt not suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. (36) For David, 
after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell on sleep, and 
was laid unto his fathers, and saw corruption: (37) But He, whom God 
raised again, saw no corruption. (38) Be it known unto you therefore, 
men and brethren, that through this Man is preached unto you the forgive- 
ness of sins: (39) And by Him all that believe are justified from all 
things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses. (40) 
Beware, therefore, lest that come upon you, which is spoken of in the 
prophets; (41) Behold, ye despisers, and wonder, and perish; for I work 
a work in your days, a work which ye shall in no wise believe, though a man 
declare it unto you. (42) And when the Jews were gone out of the 
synagogue, the Gentiles besought that those words might be preached to 
them the next Sabbath. (43) Now when the congregation was broken up, 
many of the Jews and religious proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas; who, 
speaking to them, persuaded them to continue in the grace of God. ” 

Here Paul gives us quite a little sermon, but he only sketches the 
genealogy to show that Jesus was a descendant from Abraham. And as 
Paul took his text from the Old Testament, after the reading of the law and 
the prophets, he went on to show to the people that Jesus taught the very 
same kind of religion that the Jews taught, when they taught true righteous- 
ness. 

Righteousness is right, whether preached by Jew or Gentile, priest or 
preacher; and unrighteousness is wrong, even though it may be preached by 
all. But this sermon of Paul’s does not touch the doctrine of Jesus in any 
spot. 

But we will look farther for more sermons of Paul, also for the sermons 
of the other Apostles. 

(13: 44) “And the next Sabbath day came almost the whole city together 
to hear the word of God, (45) which was spoken by Paul.” (14: 1) “They 
went both together into the synagogue of the Jews, and so spake, that a 
great multitude, both of the Jews and also of the Greeks, believed.” (7) 


286 


HOW ARE WE LED? 


“And there they preached the gospel.” (21) “And when they had preached 
the gospel to that city, and had taught many, they returned again.” (25) 
“And when they had preached the word in Perga, they went down into Attal- 
ia. ” (15: 35) “Paul also and Barnabas continued in Antioch, teaching and 
preaching the word of the Lord;” (36) “Paul said unto Barnabas, Let us go 
again, and visit our brethren in every city where we have preached the word 
of the Lord.” (16: 32) “And they spake unto him the word of the Lord, and 
to all that were in his house.” (17 : 2) “And Paul, as his manner was, went 
in unto them, and three Sabbath days reasoned with them out of the 
Scriptures.” (11) “They received the word with all readiness of mind, and 
searched the Scriptures daily.” (18) “Because he preached unto them 
Jesus, and the resurrection. ” (21) “And strangers .... spent their time 

in nothing else, but either to tell or to hear some new thing.” (22) “Then 
Paul stood up in the midst of Mars’ hill, and said, Ye men of Athens, I per- 
ceive that in all things, ye are too superstitious. (23) For, as I passed by, 
and beheld your devotion, I found an altar with this inscription, To The 
Unknown God. Whom, therefore, ye ignorantly worship, him declare I 
unto you.” (24) “God, that made the world and all things therein, seeing 
that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with 
hands.” (25) Nothing is worshipped with man’s hands, as though he 
needeth anything, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things;” 
(26) “And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all 
the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and 
the bounds of their habitation;” (27) That they should seek the Lord, if 
haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from 
every one of us: (28) For in him we live, and move, and have our being; 
as certain also of your own poets. (29) Forasmuch, then, as we are the 
offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, 
or silver, or stone, graved by art and man’s devices. (30) And the times 
of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men everywhere to 
repent: (31) Because he hath appointed a day, in which he will judge the 
world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained ; whereof he hath 
given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead. ” 

Here we get quite a little sketch of another of Paul’s sermons, and it is 
a good sermon to reflect upon, yet he does not touch the doctrine of Jesus. 
He tells them of the death and resurrection of Jesus, and that He was 
possessed of the spirit of Christ, — the true and living God; and that it was 
due time to do away with their golden gods, and serve and obey the true and 
living God. He told them that gold, silver, stone, and images were not in 
the image of God, as they have alw-ays supposed. The reason why he tells 
them this is because that his knowledge, judgment, and intellect had grown 
out of that idea : and God always has told and still tells those who" have 
received this righteous judgment, to teach it to all. And for the same 
reason that Paul told them that gold, silver, or stone are not in the image of 
God — I tell you that flesh, blood, and bone are not in the image of God. 


THE JUDGMENT OF GOD. 


287 


But God is a great mind, or spiritual form, and our minds are spiritually 
formed in His image ; and I ask you to use righteous judgment in reflecting 
upon my words. The reason why I tell you those things, is because God, 
through inspiration, tells me so; the devil never told me such things, when 
he was leading me. 

Paul tells us that God has set a day to judge the world. I say yes, and 
that day comes when the great separation comes; finally separating the 
spiritual body from the mortal body, which ends all power of ever changing 
the mind thereafter. And that great judgment day comes to some poor 
sinner, or some true Christian, every day in the year. 

Paul tells us that God has ordained a great judge, to judge the world: I 
say yes, God has appointed two great judges; and the name of one of those 
great judges is Christ, whilst the name of the other of those great judges is 
Satan; and the dwelling place of those great judges is in your own bosom, 
where they become thoroughly acquainted with every thought that enters 
your mind, and every deed that your body performs, and they will judge 
you without jury or witness. And that judgment must be a righteous 
judgment, for all records are kept in your own mind, and your lips cannot 
change them. 

Reflect upon my words, and use righteous judgment. Righteous means 
right, not wrong. 

Now we turn again to the Acts of the Apostles, to learn that they were 
great preachers, preaching many sermons, and long ones. 

(18:1.) ‘ ‘Paul .... came td Corinth. ” (4) ‘ ‘And he reasoned in the syna- 

gogue every Sabbath.” (11) “And he continued there a year and six 
months, teaching the word of God among them.” (19) “He himself 
entered into the synagogue, and reasoned with the Jews.” (25) “This man 
was instructed in the way of the Lord; and being fervent in the spirit, he 
spake and taught diligently the things of the Lord, knowing only the baptism 
of John.” 

Dear reader, there are scores of our people to-day that know only the 
baptism of John. Let me tell you that baptism in water is only the baptism 
of John. Let me tell you that baptism in water is like joining a church, it 
is only an earthly seenure ; as we might say, it is only a parable ; we have to 
have an earthly object shown to our view in parable in order to see spiritual 
ideas. Baptism in water is an outward washing and cleansing of the mortal 
body, and only answers as a parable to the baptism of the spiritual body with 
the Holy Ghost. The baptism with the Holy Ghost is the washing and 
cleansing of the human mind with the great mind of Christ — the great waters 
of righteousness that Jesus told us to so freely drink of. Baptism with 
water is for a sign that we are God’s children — a sign that our spirit is joint 
heir with the spirit of Jesus, and joint heir with the spirit of all the right- 
eous people before Jesus, even to Job or others of God’s servants, let them 
be found where they might. Yet how many we find to-day who have taken 


288 


HCW AEE WE LED? 


this sign — who have baptized the body with the baptism of John, yet have 
never baptized the mind with the baptism of Christ — the Holy Ghost. 

Our preachers know scarcely anything of the iniquity that is indulged in 
among their brethren. They will go to a brother’s house, they will sit down 
and have a good visit with him, not seeing or hearing a single word or deed 
of their every-day life. They will go away and pronounce him a true Chris- 
tian, when they know no more about him after their visit than they knew 
before. 

A few days ago a sister told me that she was visiting a neighbor lady ; 
whilst there, the husband took a hammer to drive a nail; he struck his thumb, 
he threw the hammer down and nursed the thumb until the pain had left it, 
then he turned to the visiting sister and said : 1 ‘If you had not been here I 

would have sworn.” 

Dear reader, this is the way that many of both brethren and sisters serve 
the preachers ; as long as the preacher is by they will abstain from scolding, 
swearing, or any other evil, but as soon as the preacher is gone they will 
indulge in that evil enough to make up for all lost time. And why is it? It 
is because the preacher teaches them that they are good true Christians, 
whilst he studies how to avoid speaking of those sins for fear of offending 
some of his brethren or sisters — it is because the preacher has baptized their 
mortal bodies with the baptism of John (water), and has not baptized their 
mind with the baptism of the Holy Grhost (the mind of God). 

If our preachers would go and work with their brethren in their daily 
labor, they would learn more what kind of brethren they had. If our preach- 
ers would point out those every day sins and shortcomings in their daily 
sermons, regardless of offense to those who commit them, and teach plainly 
that they are children of the devil, whilst they so easily yield to the will of 
the devil, they would learn to know more what constitutes a Christian. 

I have been a laborer all my life, working with almost all classes of peo- 
ple. The last man that I worked for had no children, he and his wife lived 
alone ; whilst husking corn for him, I found a ratchet brace hid in a com 
shock. He took the brace and said that he put it there and forgot it. I 
worked for him about seven months ; I never saw that brace or heard it 
spoken of except that once; when working with him I heard him swear daily; 
I heard him tell positive falsehoods. I never sat down at the table with 
him but what he asked God’s blessings. I talked with him about Christian- 
ity, and he told me that he truly believed that Jesus Christ was the Son of 
God; he told me that he actually believed that the mortal body of Jesus was 
resurrected from the dead, and that He went to Heaven mortally, and to-day 
He stands before God in the mortal body, pleading for His elect. He told 
me that he did not believe that God talked with man or knew anything about 
man, only just when man was praying to God, and then God only knew such 
part as Jesus saw fit to tell God. To sum him right down he really believed 
that Jesus stood before God, constantly lying to God, and making God believe 


Paul’s long sermon. 


289 


that those who prayed to Jesus — who honored and worshipped Jesus, were 
righteous people regardless of what they did. 

Dear reader, such people are actually a curse to the living community, 
yet some of our preachers teach them that they are actually Christians, by 
teaching them ‘‘that those every day sins and shortcomings are atoned for 
and washed away by the blood of Jesus,” and “that they are saved through 
faith ; and that not of yourselves, it is of the gift of God. ” 

Whilst working for this man, I picked up a little religious song book, and 
almost the very first song that I turned to gave such teachings ; it said : 

“Is Canaan’s land a happy place? 

I hear him ask who has no grace.” 

^he chorus answers: 

“Go on, go on, ye may get there, 

By faith, and grace, and mighty prayer .” 

It seems that every religious book that comes into my hands gives us such 
teachings, they teach it in their pulpits, sing it in their songs, and write it in 
their tracts. O God, deliver me from such faith, and grace , and mighty prayer. 
What did Jesus say about such mighty prayer? “This people draw nigh 
unto me with their mouth, and honor me with their lips, but their heart is 
far from me.” 

To be baptized with the baptism of Christ is to cleanse the heart; and to 
cleanse the heart is to cleanse the mind ; and to cleanse the mind is to improve 
the words and the doings at home. And then you are not only baptized with 
the baptism of Christ, but you have Christ dwelling in your own bosom, and 
that is the Christ that you are constantly crucifying. “0 Father forgive 
them ; for they know not what they do. ” 

But we turn back to Acts to find Paul speaking in the synagogue. 

19: 8. “And he went into the synagogue, and spake boldly for the space 
of three months.” 

20: 7. “Paul preached unto them ready to depart on the morrow; and 
continued his speech until midnight.” (9) “And there sat in a window a cer- 
tain young man . . . . and as Paul was long preaching, he sank down with 
sleep, and fell down” (10) “And Paul went down” (11) “When he.. ..came 
up again, and had broken bread, and eaten, and talked a long while, even till 
break of day.” 

Here Paul preached all night long, but we do not get one word of his 
sermon. Yet he told them so much. (20) “How I kept back nothing that was 
profitable unto you.” (27) “For I have not shunned to declare unto you all 
the council of God” (21: 20) “And. . . .thou seest. . . how many thousand of 
Jews there are which believe; and they are all zealous of the law.” We find 
all the way through those books that they were all zealous (upholding) of the 
law. Jesus upheld it in all righteousness, and the apostles upheld it just the 
same, and here, how many thousand which believed were all zealous of the 
law. Yet Jesus condemned the traditions of man. 


290 


HOW ARE WE LED? 


The hyporcritical Jews — children of the devil — tried to make it appear 
that they condemned the law ; but we will go on with the Bible and see how 
they came out. 

21. ‘ ‘And they are informed .... that thou teachest all the Jews which 

are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses. ” Paul said (15: 28) “It seemed 
good to the Holy Ghost, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than 
these necessary things.” (29) “That ye abstain from meats offered to idols, 
and from blood, and from things strangled, and from fornication.” (32) “And 
Judas and Silas.. ..exhorted the brethren with many words, and confirmed 
them.” Then said Paul (23: 3), “Sittest thou to judge me after the law, 
and condemnest me to be smitten contrary to the law?” (22: 1) “Men, breth- 
ren, and fathers, hear ye my defense which I make unto you.” 3 “I am. . . . 
a Jew. . . .brought up in this city. . . .and taught according to the perfect 
manner of the law of the fathers, and was zealous toward God, as ye all are 
this day.” (28: 23) “There came many to him.. ..to whom he expounded 
and testified the kingdom of God,” persuading them concerning Jesus, both 
out of the law of Moses, and out of the prophets, from morning till evening.” 
(31) ‘ ‘Preaching the kingdom of God, and teaching those things which con- 
cern the Lord Jesus Christ.” 

Now we find that Jesus and His apostles were zealous of the law — teach- 
ing Moses — expounding the law and the prophets, from the Old Testament. 
We also find them to be great preachers, preaching from morning until even- 
ing, and from evening until break of day. Yet they do not touch the doc- 
trine of Jesus in the least. We do not get one word of Jesus’ sermons to 
show us what his doctrine was. Paul preached for more than seventeen 
years, yet of all the sermons of Jesus and of all of his apostles, we only get 
a short sketch of two of Paul’s sermons. 


OHATPER XXVIII. 


ARE THE CHRISTIANS BETTER THAN THE ISRAELITES? 

Paul points out many evil deeds that we shall avoid doing. In speaking of the 
Israelites and the Christians, Paul says, “ Are we better than they? No, m 
nowise.” Paul’s faith in Jesus Christ. Paul says that he himself is not 
perfect. He says that his writings are not all from God. 

We will now turn to Paul’s letters and see what that we can find there. 

Rom. 1:18. “The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all 
ungodliness and unrighteousness of man.” 

Paul begins his writing by warning us against unrighteous doings — 
ungodly actions, and we all know that when we do a wrong act, though it be 
ever so small, it is an unrighteous act. We cannot commit an act unless it 
be either a right or an unrighteous act. 2:1 “ Therefore thou art inexcus. 

able, O man whosoever thou art/’ (4) “ Not knowing that the goodness of 

God leadeth thee to righteousness?” (5) “The righteous judgment of God 
(6) will render to every man according to his deeds.” (9) “Tribulation 
and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil.” (10) “ But glory, 
honor, and peace, to every man that worketh good.” (21). “ Thou that 

preachest a man should not steal, dost thou steal?” (22) “Thou that sayest 
a man should not commit adultery, dost thou commit adultery?” (26) 
i 1 Therefore if the uncircumcisioh keep the righteousness of the law, shall not 
his uncircumcision be counted for circumcision?” 

Could words tell us plainer than the above, that we should live up to the 
righteous teachings of the Old Testament? 

27. “And shall not uncircumcision which is by nature, if it fulfill the 
law, judge thee, who. . . .dost transgress the law?” (28) “For he is not a 
Jew which is one outwardly, (29) but he is a Jew which is one inwardly. ” 

Paul says by the Jews just as I say by the church members, he is not a 
Christian that is one outwardly, but he is a Christian that is one inwardly. 

3:1. “What advantage then hath the Jew? or what profit is there in cir- 
cumcision?” 

Now we find in the first two chapters of Paul’s letters that he upholds the 
law, and we find that he points out many things that we do that are unright- 
eous, and he tells them that the outward name Jew does not make them God’s 
children but it is the inward works of the mind that guides the words and 
the actions that makes them God’s children. I say the same, it is not the 
outward name, Christian, that makes us the children of God, but it is the 
inward works of the mind that guides and rules the mortal tongue and the 
outward actions in every day life, that makes us children of God. We also 
find in Paul’s letter that the great contention between Paul and his oppon 

291 


292 


HOW ARE WE LED? 


ents is over circumcision. And wh}^ is it? It is because righteous judgment 
has become so developed — in the minds of the Apostles — that they can see 
that circumcision availeth nothing in right or wrong — neither teaching any to 
do right or permitting any to do wrong. But Paul says: (3:9) “What 
then? Are we better than they? No, in nowise: for we have before proved 
both Jew and Gentile, that they are all under sin;” (10) “there is none 
righteous,” (11) “ there is none that understandeth, ” (12) “they are all 

gone out of the way.” (1) “ What profit is there of circumcision?” 

Paul talks and writes against circumcision, which was a part of their 
creed. Had the Sabbath day question been agitated before he closed his 
writing, would not he just as freely have spoken of the Sabbath day? 

Paul was writing against their creed; Jesus was a dissenter, leaving their 
creed and using his own righteous judgment: his Apostles following his ex- 
ample used their judgment also, in judging, what constituted righteousness: 
whilst the professors strove to destroy them all. For the very same cause — 
because I lay aside creed and doctrine, and advocate the use of righteous 
judgment I am also considered a dissenter. 

Paul said that circumcision availed nothing for, nothing against, right- 
eousness. Those that wanted to be circumcised, let them be circumcised 
and still be Christians ; those that want to remain uncircumcised, let them 
remain uncircumcised and be Christians just the same. 

I say the same about creeds, they amount to nothing, neither for — 
neither against doing righteously; those who want a creed let them have a 
creed, and let them do right also. Those who desire no creed let them live 
without a creed if they say and do that which is right in their everyday walk 
at home — if they omit saying and doing that which is wrong in their every- 
day life, they are also righteous people just the same. 

Now what do they say about me because I say that I am Christ? I say 
that my mind is Christ the same as the mind of Jesus was Christ. Not so 
great a Christ as the mind of Jesus, but from the very same God. Dear 
reader, there are scores and scores that say the same as I, only they add 
three letters more than Jesus added (ian). Jesus taught us that His mind 
(“spirit”) was Christ just because He drank so freely of the mind (“spirit”) 
of God — just because His mind was so strongly governed by the mind of God. 
My mind is Christ just because I try to drink so freely of the mind of that 
vfery same God — just because I try to let the mind of that very same God 
control and govern my mind. The mind of every true child of God is Christ 
just the same, and they call themselves Christ-ian, but, because they add 
three letters in speaking the name, we look at it in altogether a different 
light, and we do not know the true meaning of the word. 

O, that my mother had been a righteous girl! 0, that I might have been 
conceived and carried in righteousness, that I might have inherited a right- 
eous mind! 0 that I had been born and raised in purity of mind; that I 
might have been a true son of God, instead of an adopted son of God ! And 
O that I might have been God’s servant from my birth! 


CIRCUMCISION IS A SIGN. 


293 


Dear reader, there were many claiming the name of a Jew who were not 
ome Israelites ; and to-day there are many claiming the name of Christ- ian, 
w T hose minds are as far from God’s mind as my mind ever was. Jesus said, 
“many shall come in my name. . . .and shall deceive many,” and we find it 
to be so. But they may say what they please of me, we will go on with 
Paul’s letter. 

Rom. 4: 11. “He received the sign of circumcision, a seal.” 

Paul says that “circumcision is a sign, a seal.” And let me say it was 
a sign for Abraham — a sign that he had become a child of God. A seal 
because Abraham had made a promise to God that he would walk in right- 
eousness, that he would talk right, not wrong; that he would do right not 
wrong. And the greatest way that he knew to seal his promise and make it 
firm, was to put a mark on his own flesh. To-day we have a more appropri- 
ate seal by which to seal our words, it is an oath to the Almighty God. 

Paul speaks about faith in Jesus Christ; let us examine his faith. I have 
as great faith in Christ as Paul has in Jesus Christ. Paul seems to place 
Christ as a mortal man, so created as to make him the Son of God. I place 
Christ as the divine mind of God, whether found in the body of Jesus, or 
found in any other body. When that divine mind was found in the body of 
Jacob, it was called Israel. But after the Jewish tribe had shrunk from try- 
ing to follow after this divine mind of God it sprang up in the body of Jesus 
brighter than ever, and there received the name of Christ. I have as much 
faith in that Christ as any person can have, but we will examine Paul’s faith. 
In Paul’s letters he uses the word faith more than one hundred and sixty 
times ; we will search them out. 

Rom. 1 :5. “ By whom we have received grace and apostleship, for obedi- 

ence to the faith among all nations, for His name.” (12) “That is, that 
I may be comforted together with you by the mutual faith both of you and 
me.” (17) “for therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to 
faith.” (3:3) “For what if some did not believe? shall their unbelief 
make the faith of God without effect?” (4) “God forbid.” (22) “Even 
the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon 
all them that believe: for there is no difference.” (30) “Seeing it is one 
God, which shall justify the circumcision by faith, and uncircumcision through 
faith.” (4:5) “But to him that worketh not, but believeth on Him that 
justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.” (6) “Even 
as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputed 
righteousness without works.” (13) “For the promise, that he should be 
the heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or to his seed, through the law, 
but through the righteousness of faith. ” (1 4) ‘ ‘For if they which are of 

the law be heirs, faith is made void, and the promise made of none effect.” 

In speaking of Abraham, Paul says: 

11. “He received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness 
of the faith which he had yet being uncircumcised, that he might be the 
father of all them that believed, though they being not circumcised, that 


294 


HOW ARE WE LED? 


righteousness might be imputed unto them also/’ (12) “And the father 
of circumcision to them who are not of the circumcision only, but who also 
walk in the steps of that faith.” (16) “Therefore it is of faith, that it might 
be by grace ; to t*he end the promise might be sure to all the seed ; not to that 
only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abra- 
ham. ” (9) ‘ ‘We say that faith was reckoned to Abraham for righteousness. ” 

5:2. ‘ ‘By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we 

stand.” (9:30) “What shall we say then? That the Gentiles, which fol- 
lowed not after righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the right- 
eousness which is of faith.” (31) “But Israel, who followed after the law 
of righteousness, hath not attained to the law of righteousness.” (32) 
“Wherefore? Because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the 
(compulsory) works of the law. ” 

They had to be compelled by civil law to do right. Our people to-day 
bear the same compulsion. 

10:8. “The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart; that 
is, the word of faith, which we preach.” (6) “The righteousness which is 
of faith speaketh on this wise : Say not in thine heart who shall ascend into 
heaven; that is, to bring Christ down from above.” (7) “Or who shall 
descend into the deep, that is, to bring up Christ again from the dead?” 
(12:3) “For I say . . unto . . you, not to think of yourself more highly 
than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt 
to every man the measure of faith” (6) “Let us prophecy according to 
the proportion of faith.” (14:23) “Hast thou faith? have it to thyself 
before God.” (23) “And he that doubteth is damned if he eat, because he 
eateth not of faith; for whatsoever is not of faith is sin.” 

Cor. 12:8. “For to one is given by the spirit . . wisdom.” (9) “To 
another faith by the same spirit.” (2 Cor. 5:7) “For we walk by faith, not 
by sight.” 

Gal. 1:23. “But they had heard only, that he which persecuted us in 
time past now preacheth the faith which once he destroyed. ” (2 : 20) “The 

life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God.” (3 :2) 
“Received ye the spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?” 
(3) “Are ye so foolish?” (5) “He, therefore, that ministereth unto you 
the spirit, and worketh miracles among you, doeth he it by the works of the 
law, or by the hearing of faith?” (7) “Know ye, therefore, that they 
which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham.” (11) “But 
that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident, for the 
just shall live by faith.” (22) “But the Scripture hath concluded all under 
sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that 
believe.” (23) “But before faith came we were kept under the law. ” (26) 
“For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. ” (5:5) “For 

we through the spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. ” (22) 

“But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, good- 
ness, faith, meekness, temperance; against such there is no law.” 


THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF CHRIST. 


295 


Paul says, against the fruits of the Spirit there is no law. That is right; 
the fruits of the spirit of Christ is righteousness — right words and right 
deeds. Against such there is no civil law. Paul must be talking about civil 
law. 

5: 6. “For in Jesus Christ (a righteous mind) neither circumcision avail- 
eth any thing, nor uncircumcision ; (circumcision neither helps us to do right 
nor hinders us from doing right) ; but faith which worketh by (pure) love, 
(for in Godliness is the Christian’s main support) Eph. 3:4, “whereby, when 
ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ.” (12) 
“In whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of Him,” 
(17) “that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted 
and grounded in love,” (4:3) “endeavoring to keep the unity of the spirit in 
the bond of peace.” 

4:4. “There is one body, and one spirit/’ (5) “One Lord, one faith, one 
baptism,” (6) “One God and Father of all.” (13) “Till we all come in the 
unit} 7 of the faith, and of the knowledge of the son of God. ” 

6:16. “Taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench 
all the fiery darts of the wicked.” (23) “Peace be to the brethren, and love 
with faith. ” (Phil. 1 . 25) ‘ ‘Having this confidence, I know that I shall abide 

and continue with you all for your furtherance and joy of faith.” (27) 
‘ ‘Only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ .... that 
ye stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of 
the gospel.” (3:8) “That I may win Christ, (9) and be found in him, not 
having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through 
the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith.” 

Col. 1:3. “We give thanks to God and the Father of our Lord Jesus 
Christ, praying always for you,” (4) “since we heard of your faith in Christ 
Jesus.” (Thess. 1:3) “Remembering without ceasing your work in faith. ” 
(3:5) “For this cause, when I could no longer forbear, I sent to know your 
faith, lest by some means the tempter have tempted you, and our labour be 
in vain.” (6) “But now when Timotheus came from you unto us, and 
brought us good tidings of your faith in charity.” (7) “We were comforted.” 
(10) “Night and day praying exceedingly that we might see your face, and 
might perfect that which is lacking in your faith.” (5:8) “But let us, who 
are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love ; and for 
a helmet, the hope of salvation. ” 

Thess. 1 :3. “We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as 
it is meet, because that your faith groweth exceedingly, and the charity of 
every one of you all toward each other aboundeth,” (4) “so that we ourselves 
glory in you in the churches of God, for your patience and faith in all your 
persecutions and tribulations that ye endure.” (7) “When the Lord Jesus 
shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels,” (8) “in flaming fire, 
taking vengeance on them that know not God and that obey not the gospel of 
our Lord Jesus Christ:” (9) “Who shall be punished with everlasting destruc- 
tion from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power,” (10) 


296 


HOW ARE WE LED? 


“when he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all 
them that believe,” (11) “wherefore also we pray always for you, that our 
God would count you worthy of this calling, and fulfil all the good pleasure 
of his goodness, and the work of faith with power:” (3: 2) “For all men have 
not faith.” 

Timothy 1 : 5 . “Now the end of the commandment is charity out of a 
pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned.” (14) “And 
the grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant with faith and love, which is 
Christ Jesus.” (2:7) “Whereunto I am ordained a preacher, and an apostle 
.... a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and verity. ” (4:6) “If thou put the 

brethren in remembrance of these things, thou shalt be a good minister of 
Jesus Christ, nourished up in the words of faith and of good doctrine.” 
,(5:12) “Having damnation, because they have cast oil their first faith.” 
(6: 12) “Fight the good fight of faith.” (Timothy 1:13) “Hold fast the 
form of sound words, which thou hast heard of me, in faith and love which 
is in Christ Jesus.” 

2: 17. “Hymeneus and Philetus,” (18) “who concerning the truth have 
erred, saying that the resurrection is past already, and overthrowing the faith 
of some.” (3:8) “ Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do 

these also resist the truth ; men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the 
faith.” (10) “But thou hast ’fully known my doctrine, manner of life, 
purity, faith, long suffering, charity, patience.” (15) “ And that from a 

child thou has known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make thee wise 
unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.” ✓ 

4:7. “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have 
kept the faith. ” (Tit. 1:1) “ A servant of God, and an Apostle of Jesus 

Christ according to the faith of God’s elect.” (2) “In hope of eternal life, 
which God that cannot lie, promised before the world began.” (4) “Titus, 
mine own son after the common faith; grace, mercy and peace from God the 
father and the Lord Jesus Christ our Saviour.” (13) “This witness is 
true. Wherefore rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith. ” 
(Phile. 3) ‘ ‘ Grace to you and peace from God the Father and the Lord 

Jesus Christ.” (5) “Hearing of thy love and faith which thou hast.” 
(Heb. 4:2) ‘ ‘For unto us was the gospel preached as well as unto them ; 

but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in 
them that heard it.” (6:1) “Let us goon unto perfection; not laying 
again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward 
God.” (12) “That ye be not slothful, but followers of them who through 
faith and patience inherit the promises.” (10:22) “Let us draw near with 
a true heart in full assurance of faith. ” (23) ‘ * Let us hold fast the pro- 

fession of our faith without wavering ; for he is faithful that promised.” 
(11: 1) “New faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of 
things not seen.” (3) “Through faith we understand that the worlds were 
framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of 
things which do appear.” (4) “By faith Abel offered unto God a more 


THE VALUE OF FAITH. 


297 


excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was right- 
eous.” (5) “By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death.” 
(6) £ ‘ But without faith it is impossible to please him ; for he that cometh to 

God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that dili- 
gently seek him.” (?) “ By faith Noah, being warned of God of things 

not seen as yet. . . .prepared an ark to the saving of his house.” (8) “By 
faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should 
after receive for an inheritance, obeyed.” (9) “By faith he sojourned in 
the land of promise as in a strange country.” (17) “ By faith Abraham 

when he was tried, offered up Isaac. ” (20) “By faith Isaac blessed Jacob 

and Esau concerning things to come.” (21) “ By faith Jacob, when he was 

dying, blessed both the sons of Joseph.” (22) “ By faith Joseph, when 

he died, made mention of the departure of the children of Israel, and gave 
commandments concerning his bones.” (23) “By faith Moses, when he 
was born, was hid three months of his parents.” (24) “ By faith Moses, 
when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daugh- 
ter.” (27) “By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king.” 
(29) “By faith they passed through the Red Sea as by dry land. ” (30) 

“By faith the walls of Jericho fell down.” (31) “ By faith the harlot Rahab 
perished not with them that believed not.” (32) “ And what shall I more 

say? for the time would fail me to tell of Gideon and of Barak, and of 
Sampson and of Zephthah, of David also, and Samuel, and of the prophets.” 
(33) “Who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, 
obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions,” (34) “quenched the vio- 
lence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made 
strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens.” 
(12:2) “Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith.” (13:7) 

£ ‘Remember them which have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you 
the word of God ; whose faith follow, considering the end of their conversa- 
tion. ” 

Now from selecting Paul’s words on faith, who could refrain from believ- 
ing that £ £ by grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves ; 
it is the gift of God. ” 

What shall we think? What shall we believe? What shall we say? Let 
us first read what Paul says of himself, then you can read what I say of him. 
Then we will go back and examine Paul’s letters again, and look at the other 
side of his remarks, what he says about works as well as faith. Then we 
will look at what the other Apostles say of Paul’s extreme faith. 

In Paul’s letter to the Philippians he said, 3:8: “I have suffered the 
loss of all things. . . .that I may win Christ.” 

Paul does not say that he had won Christ, but that he may win Christ. 
He will further say that he may know Christ; he will not say that he does 
know Christ; and still further on, he will say that he is not perfect , and that 
his writings do not all come from God. 


298 


HOW ARE WE LED? 


3: 10. “That I may know him.” (11) “If by any means I might attain 
unto the resurrection of the dead.” (12) “Not as though I had already 
attained, either were already perfect: But I follow after, if that I may appre- 
hend.” (13) “Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this 
one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth 
unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark,” etc. 

Paul himself said that he was not perfect. I say if he was perfect he was 
equal to Jesus Christ, for Jesus was not beyond perfection. If Paul was not 
perfect his writings were not perfect. And where were the imperfections? 
In the Old Testament, one defect was, God’s divine law and the Hebrew 
national law was all recorded in the one book. One defect with Paul was, in 
speaking of those different laws, he made no distinction, but called all Moses’ 
law. With them, in their day, a man’s commands were called his law, a 
master’s word was called the master’s law. As we just passed through Paul’s 
letters we found him writing of the compulsive works of their civil law, in 
passing through those letters again, we will find him writing of the freewill 
works of God’s divine law. Yet he does not distinguish the two separate 
laws, and we are left to lean upon righteous judgment as we study his writ- 
ings. But let us see what that James and Peter said of Paul’s faith before 
we turn back to look at the other side of Paul’s writings. 

James 1:6. “Let him ask in faith,” but (2:14) “what doth it profit, 

. . . .though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? Can faith save 
him?” (17) “Faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.” (18) 
“Shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my 
works.” (20) “Wilt thou know ...that faith without works is dead?” 
(21) “Was not Abraham our father justified by works?” (22) “Seest 
thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made per- 
fect?” (24) “Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by 
faith only.” (26) “For as the body without the spirit (mind) is dead, so 
faith without works is dead also.” 

II. Peter 1:5. “Add to your faith virtue; and to virtue, knowledge; and 
to knowledge, temperance; and to temperance, patience; and to patience, 
godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, 
charity.” 

Those Apostles say that it takes works as well as faith, and so says right- 
eous judgment. 

Paul was frail, and failed to designate the difference between the works of 
divine law from those of civil law ; yet I agree with Paul, that a person who 
does right because our national law holds him to it, that person has not a 
righteous heart — that person is not one of God’s children because he does the 
works of the law. But a person that has a desire to always do right without 
any law, that person is a child of God, whether the world counts him as one 
or not. That person is not a branch of the great tree of destruction ; as 
there are only two great trees, they must be a branch of the great tree of 
life. 


THE TRUTH IN CHRIST. 


299 


Paul was a child before the crucifixion, long before the New Testament 
was written. He was a-teaching some that were older than himself — some 
were children before him — and he says: “From a child thou hast known the 
Holy Scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation. ” II . Tim. 
3:15 “From a child” they have “known the Holy Scriptures” that he was 
still teaching, “which were able to make them wise unto salvation.” If 
those “Scriptures were able to make them wise unto salvation” thirty years 
after Jesus was crucified — the date when this letter was written — it is still 
able to bring us to salvation. It is not abolished, dead, or laid aside by God ; 
neither by man, except he wants to gain heaven without ‘ ‘works. ” 

Now as we run over Paul’s letters this time we see that he as well as the 
other apostles tell us that to gain heaven we must do works. We will also 
notice some of his remarks that righteous judgment must call errors. 

As I point out some of those errors I shall take the advice upon myself 
that Paul gave to his own dear son: “Speak thou the things which be- 
come sound” judgment. (Titus 2:1.) 

Rom. 7 :2. “The woman which hath a husband is bound by the law to 
her husband so long as he liveth ; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed 
from the law of her husband.” 

Let me say here, that in those days, if a man’s word had any power to 
give orders, his word was considered his law, even over his wife. But if he 
be dead, his word became powerless, and his wife became ‘ ‘loosed from the 
law of her husband.” 

We find the Old Testament is full of just such law as this, and Paul 
speaks of all kinds of law without making any distinction. 

Some of you think I am a fool, 

To point at Paul so plain and cool, 

But when you’ve gained abode in hell, 

You’ll wish you’d known the things I tell. 

May I repeat the words of Paul here, and apply them to myself? Rom. 
9:1. “I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me 
witness in the Holy Ghost. ” 

3:27. “Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of 
works? Nay; but by the law of faith.” (31) “Do we then make void the 
law through faith? God forbid; yea, we establish the law.” 

Hear the words of Paul, as he speaks of God’s divine law, as recorded in 
the Old Testament: “Do we then make void the law through faith? God 
forbid? yea, we establish the law.” Every true Christian has this law estab- 
lished in their heart, that they will live a true Christian life in their home 
circle, without compulsion of any civil law. 

Cor. 13. 2. “Though I have . . all faith, so that I could remove mount- 
ains, and have not charity, I am nothing.” (13) “And now abideth faith, 
hope, charity, these three ; but the greatest of these is charity. ” 

Something that is greater than faith : it is works. 


300 


HOW ARE WE LED? 


Gal. 5:6. “Walk in the spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the 
flesh/’ (17) “For the flesh lusteth against the spirit, and the spirit against 
the flesh . . so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. ” 

You have got to leave off your wicked works, and do good works ; ‘ ‘ye 
cannot do the things that ye would. ” 

18. “But if ye be led of the spirit, ye are not under the law.” 

Here he speaks of the compulsive civil law. Paul was the highest edu- 
cated of the apostles, and his education was wholly in accordance with civil law. 

19. “Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these: Adul- 
tery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, (20) idolatry, witchcraft, 
hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, (how often do we find wrath 
and strife in the home circle! Paul says those are not Christians), seditions, 
heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revelings, and such like; of the 
which I tell you before, as I have also told you in times past, that they which 
do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.” 

Paul has pointed out many things, and closes by saying other such like 
things, and those who do those things cannot enter the kingdom of God. It 
takes work to do away with those things, and to perfectly do away with them 
we must do away with the very roots of them, which are often planted in our 
minds even before we are born, and always before childhood has passed away. 
Dear mother, do you try to avoid those things in your home circle — in your 
every-day life? Paul says: “Those who do those things shall not inherit the 
kingdom of God.” (22) “But the fruits of the spirit are love, joy, peace, 
long suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance; against 
such there is no law.” 

Those fruits of the Spirit can be found in every home circle where a little 
heaven below reigns, but in no home circle where a hell upon earth is found. 
Paul said: 

(25) “If we live in the spirit, let us also walk in the spirit.” (26) 
“Let us not be desirous of vainglory, provoking one another, envying one 
another.” 

Our mother (Eve) was the first to bring evil into the home circle, and our 
mothers must take the lead out of evil. How did our mother lead us inco 
iniquity? By the use of the mortal tongue. Satan slily crept into the heart 
of Eve, and with his long, fiery red tongue he rolled hell fire into the mother’s 
heart. Though it was as the smallest spark, it has never ceased to grow 
until this day. It was rolled into the mother’s heart from the lisping tongue 
of the devil, and it has never ceased to roll from the lisping tongue since that 
day. 

How can the mothers lead us out of evil iniquity? 

By bridling the lisping tongue. 

How can the mothers bridle the lisping tongue? 

It has always been a practice in angry strife to see who could have the 
last word. I have heard a mother say that she would rather her tongue would 
wear out than to rust out. Let us lay that idea aside; in angry strife let us 


STRIVE TO LEAVE OFF ANGRY WORDS. 


301 


strive to see who can leave off angry words first. All that there is in chang- 
ing the home circle from a hell upon earth to a little heaven below, is to 
strive to see who in angry strife can leave off angry words first. The mother 
that has done this has conquered many devils. 

Why do I say, Let mothers strive to leave off angry words first? 

Mothers must take the lead. The mother that thus succeeds can give to 
her children the birth mark of Jesus Christ — a mild and loving disposition. 

6:1. “ Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, 

restore such a one in the spirit to meekness. ” (2) 1 1 Bear ye one another’s 

burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.” (This is truly works.) (4) “But 
let every man prove his own works. ” (5) ‘ ‘For every man shall bear his 

own burdens. ” (6) ‘ ‘ Let him that is taught in the word communicate unto 

him that teacheth in all good things.” (7) “Whatsoever a man soweth 
that shall he also reap.” (8) “For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the 
flesh reap corruption : but he that soweth to the spirit shall of the spirit reap 
life everlasting.” (9) “Arid let us not be weary in well doing.” (10) 
“As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially 
unto them who are of the household” (members of the home circle — the 
companion, the children and the parents.) 

Thess. 1:2. “ We give thanks to God always,” (3) “remembering 

your work of faith, and labor of love, and patience of hope.” I Tim. 3:9. 
“Holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience.” 

I. Tim. 2:15. “If they continue in faith and charity and holiness with 
sobriety.” (3:9) “Holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience. ” 
(4:1) “Some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits 
and doctrines of devils. ” 

Faith is to believe — to know a thing that you cannot see. After they had 
learned and received this faith, if there is no works connected with it, why 
should any ever depart from it? If that faith is a gift from God, without 
any inclination on their part, how could they depart from that faith? Let 
righteous judgment answer. 

12. “Be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in 
charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity.” (13) “Give attendance to reading, 
to exhortation, to doctrine.” 

Paul tells them to “give attention to reading.” What shall they read but 
the Old Testament? 

6:10. “The love of money is the root of all evil, which while some cov- 
eted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through 
with many sorrows. ” (11) “But thou, O man of God, flee these things, 

and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness. ” II. 
Tim. 2 : 22. “Flee .... (from) youthful lusts: but follow righteousness, faith, 
charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart.” 

But peace with your companions whether they call on the Lord or not. 
This would bring your companions to the Lord if they have righteous judg- 
ment reigning in their own hearts. 


302 


HOW ARE WE LED? 


24. “The servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle (in your 
home life) unto all men, apt to teach, patient.” (25) “Instructing those 
that oppose themselves,” (26) “that they may recover themselves out of the 
snare of the devil.” (Rom. 1:18) “For the wrath of God is revealed 
from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of man” (or woman; 
ungodliness is words or works that are wrong — that are not right — that are 
not Godlike, such as) (29) ‘ ‘wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness, full of 
envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity, whisperers, backbiters, haters of 
God (No person can hate God, but those that disregard Godly words, Godly 
deeds, Godly worship and Godly society; such are) haters of God, despiteful, 
proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, (31) without 
natural affection, implacable, unmerciful; (32) who knowing the judgment of 
God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death.” 

Paul tells us many things that we cannot do and yet be Christians — 
things that are practiced in home life among church members; yet our teach- 
ers tell us that they are every-day sins and shortcomings and that they are 
no sin to the believer. Paul says : ‘ ‘They which do such things shall not 
inherit the kingdom of God. ” Yet Paul does not tell us to do away with 
the little roots and branches of those evils, that are in the little young and 
tender forms of our infants, but he permits those things to grow until they 
become offensive and then tries to root them out ; but it is then too late. 
Christ said: “Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not.” 
The mother that forbids the father or the school teacher to correct her child, 
is forbidding her child to go unto Christ. The mother that permits her child 
to run in disobedience of her own word is forbidding her child to go unto 
Christ. Paul says (2:1): “Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man (or 
woman) whosoever thou art;” (2) “we are sure that the judgment of God is 
. . . .against them which commit such things.” (3) “Thinkest thou. . . .0 
man (or woman) that judgest them which do such things, and (thou) doest 
the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God?” 

Don’ t think, because a person talks about their neighbor doing those things 
that they themselves are clean, for ninety-nine out of a hundred that talk 
about their neighbors are as foul as those whom they are talking about. 

Let me ask the jawing companion, if you believe the preachers, if you 
believe the Bible, if you believe good judgment, if you believe that there is 
a God, a devil, a heaven, a hell — do you condemn those things when you see 
them in others, but when you do them yourself do you think that God will 
excuse you and take you into heaven, and send others to hell for the same 
offense? Do I hear you say that nature compels you to do those things? 
If so, you can atone for them by teaching your daughters and cultivating 
their minds so as to give to their offsprings as an inheritance — the birthmark 
of Jesus — a mild and pleasant nature. 

How can you accomplish those works? 

By constantly asking in your own mind, Is this thing right, or is it wrong? 
If it is right I will do it ; if it is wrong I will try to avoid doing it. 


THE OLD COVENANT. 


?C3 


Who will answer those questions? 

The Christ that dwells in your own bosom — your own judgment must tell 
you which way is the nearest right for you to do. 

There are two things that you must do in order to make your own body 
a temple for Christ to dwell in. The one is to compel your tongue to lie 
still, for a wise head keeps a still tongue. Another thing is to cultivate the 
practice of constantly asking your own judgment: If I do this, will it be 
right or will it be wrong? Do I hear you ask, Is it necessary to avoid 
those little trifling things in every-day life? 

Dear reader, take the words of Paul. He has pointed out those things in 
every-day life, only omitting two things: He did not say to the jawing com- 
panion, A wise head keeps a still tongue, neither did he say to the loving 
mother to cultivate the mind of her child from its birth. But he did say: 
“I have also told you in times past that they which do such things shall not 
inherit the kingdom of God. ” (2:6) ‘ ‘Who will render to ever}" man 

(woman or child) according to his deeds. ” (7) ‘ ‘To them who . . . . in 

well doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, eternal life.” (8) 
‘ ‘But unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey 
unrighteousness, indignation and wrath, ” (9) “tribulation and anguish, upon 
every soul of man (or woman) that doeth evil.” (10) “But glory, honor 
and peace to every man (woman or child) that worketh good.” 

The father, mother and children are included in the words ‘ ‘every soul of 
man, ” just as much as the dumb father, mother and children are included in 
the words horse, sheep, dog, etc. 


CHAPTER XXIX. 


Is the old covenant containing God’s law made void? Paul said, No, God forbid, 
we establish the law — a measure in heaven, on earth, and in hell. Not all 
church members are children of God. God is able to graft them in again. 
Paul acknowledges that by times he was not commanded of the Lord, but 
writes his own mind. 

She raised her child in frequent prayer, 

Who never shunned the tempting snare, 

Who never thought of thorn or tare, 

But allow’d them all to grow. 

The mother that killed the thorn and tare, 

The mother that shunned the tempting snare, 

The mother that forgot the frequent prayer, 

Has made the greatest show. 

Christ is love. 

Rom. 6:1. “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin?” (4) 
“We. . . .should walk in newness of life,” (6) “knowing this. . . .that hence- 
forth we should not serve sin.” (13) “Neither yield ye your members 


304 


HOW ABE WE LED? 


as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin. ” Your hands, your feet, your 
eyes, your ears, and your mortal tongue are included in this word members, 
“yield then not as instruments of sin,” (14) “for sin shall not have dominion 
over you.” (If you make a practice of asking your own judgment — before 
doing a thing — Is it right to do so?) (16) “Know ye not that to whom ye 
yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are?” 

Paul tells us that ‘ ‘by grace are ye saved through faith : and that not of 
yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works.” But when we come to 
study his writings thoroughly he tells us that we have much works to do. 

I have heard many sing to Jesus to “wash me and make me whiter than 
snow.” Who is it that does this washing? Before I say that it is Christ 
that does this washing let me give a parable. 

They have a measure up in heaven, to measure out the spirit of God. 
We heave a measure on earth, to measure out our grain. They have a meas- 
ure down in hell, to measure out the spirit of the devil. When their measure 
is full in heaven it is called God; when our measure is full here on earth it is 
called bushel; when their measure is full in hell it is called devil. They 
have a smaller measure in heaven that they call Christ; we have a smaller 
measure on earth which we call peck ; they have a smaller measure in hell which 
they call satan. They have a still smaller measure up in heaven that they 
call Christian; we have a still smaller measure on earth which we call quart; 
they have a still smaller measure in hell which they call sinner. They have 
still another measure in heaven that they call God’s children; we have still 
another measure that we call pint, and they have still another measure in hell 
that they call the children of the devil. Let us go to our granary here, and 
get pint, quart, peck, or bushel; it is all the very same grain that we get. 
Let us go to heaven and get children, Christian, Christ, or God; it is all the 
very same righteous mind. Let us go to hell and get children, sinners, satan, 
or the devil ; it is all the very same evil mind. Now, dear reader, it is all the 
very same evil mind that blackens your character. Let you be a child of the 
devil, a sinner, satan, or the very devil himself ; it is all the very same tar 
that smears you over. Let you be a child of God, a Christian, an Israelite, 
a Christ, or the very God himself; it is all the very same holy mind washes 
you, that cleanses you, that makes you whiter than snow. It is Christ that 
does that work, but it is the very Christ that dwells in your own bosom. 
And the greater your judgment the larger your measure, and the poorer your 
judgment the smaller your measure. And it is that very Christ and that very 
satan that records every word, act and deed that passes through this mortal 
life. And it is that very Christ or that very satan that will commend you to 
God or condemn you to the devil. And their judgment cannot be disputed. 
Let us strive to drink in a pint, a quart or a peck of the holy mind of God, 
and let us reject the mind of the devil, and let our words and our works in 
every-day life prove it. 

God created every person perfectly free in mind to choose for themselves 
of which mind they will drink in. And (6:20) “when ye were the servants 


FRUITS UNTO HOLINESS. 


305 


of sin, ye were free from righteousness.” (21) “What fruit had ye then in 
those things whereof ye are now ashamed? For the end of those things is 
death. ” 

This death is not mortal death — is not annihilation, but eternal separation 
from the holy mind of God. 

22. “But now being made free from sin, and being servants of God, ye 
have your fruits unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.” (23) “For the 
wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through. . . . Christ” 
(that dwells in your own bosom.) (7 :7) “What shall we say then? Is the 
law sin? God forbid.” (12) “Wherefore the law is holy, and the com- 
mandments holy, and just and good.” (13) “Was then that which is good 
made death unto me? God forbid. But sin, that- it might appear sin, work- 
ing death in me by that which is good ; that sin by the commandments might 
become exceeding sinful.” (21) “I find then a law that, when I would do 
good, evil is present with me.” (22) “I delight in the law of God after the 
inward man.” (23) “But I see another law in my members, warring 
against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin 
which is in my members.” 

We see in the last five verses that they called everything law. Therefore 
I am right in judging Paul’s remarks on the different laws without giving us 
any distinction. 

8:7 ‘ ‘Because the carnal mind is enmity against God.” (9) “But ye 

are not in the flesh, but in the spirit, if ... . the spirit of God dwell in you. 
Now, if any man have not the spirit of Christ, he is none of his. ” (If any 
man, woman or child have not the mind of Christ — the mind of God — in 
them, they are not God’s.) (10) “And if Christ be in you. . . .the spirit is 
life.” (14) “For as many as are led by the spirit of God, they are the sons 
of God.” (15) “For.... ye have received the spirit of adoption.” (16) 

‘ ‘The spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of 
God.” (17) “And if children, then heirs — heirs of God, and joint heirs 
with Christ.” (9:4) “Who are Israelites; to whom pertaineth the adop 
tion?” (6) “They are not all Israel, which are of Israel.” 

Paul says of the Israelites as we say of the church members. They are 
not all Christians that are church members, but those who are true to Paul's 
religion were Israelites, who pertaineth the adoption. A true righteous 
Jew is an Israelite, and a true righteous church member is a Christian — all 
children of the very same God. 

Paul said (11:1): “I say then, hath God cast away his people? God 
forbid. For I also am an Israelite. ” 

Paul was an Israelite) also a Christian, for he knew that both names cov- 
ered a child of God and included all true children of God; and he calls our 
attention to Elias, who said: 

(11:3) “Lord, they have killed thy prophets. . . .and they seek my life.” 
(4) “But what saith the answer of God unto him? I have reserved to my- 
self seven thousand men, who have not bowed the knee to the image of Baal” 


306 


HOW ARE WE LED? 


(devil). (5) “ Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant.’' 

(7) “ What then? Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for; but 

the election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded.” 

Those that wanted to belong to the church without amending their talk — 
jawing, scolding — or their doings, were blinded of their own choice ; and the 
elect are those that strive to do right, whether church members, Israelites, 
Jews, or Gentiles. (15) “For if the casting away of them be the reconciling 
of the world, what shall the receiving of them be but life from the dead?” 

12:10. “Be kindly affectionate one to another with brotherly love r 
(especially between companions in every day life). (17) “Recompense to- 
no man evil for evil.” (18) “If it be possible .... live peaceably with 
all men.” (20) “If thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him 
drink; for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head.” (21^ 
“Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.” (13:3) “Rules 
are not a terror to good works, but to evil.” (Moses’ law is not a terror to 
our good works, but to our evil works. ) (7) ‘ ‘ Render therefore to all, their 

dues.” 

The old covenant that is abolished, dead and laid aside in the next 
verse, (8) Paul tells us to make it alive and live up to it. 

13:0. “Thou shalt not commit adultery, thou shalt not kill, thou shalt 
not steal, thou shalt not bear false witnesses, thou shalt not covet; and if 
there be any other commandment it is briefly comprehended in this saying, 
namely: Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.” 

A great many people love their neighbor, just as a great many others love 
their God. If I say that I love my God which is up in heaven, a bodily form 
like unto man, I love that form, I love that being, I love that God with all 
my heart; yet I do not love godly words, godly deeds, godly actions; I do 
not love to talk right and do right — where is my Jove for God? Where is 
your love for your neighbor if you do not love to talk right and do right with 
him? The children that are always allowed to do just as they may please, 
and to talk just as they may please, do not love their neighbor, their com- 
panion, their God. And they can not be taught that love under such a nature 
as that. The main thing in teaching our children this love is to teach them 
this obedience, and the only way to teach them obedience is to compel them 
to obey; and this compulsion should be used when they are very small, and 
be used with mild and pleasant positiveness. After they have got old enough 
to be rude and disobedient, it is of no use to tell them that they ought to 
obey. The farmer might as well go into his cornfield after the weeds have 
grown and tell them that they ought not to stand there, for they are a damage 
to the corn. You cannot root the thorn and the tare out of the children’s mind 
after they have grown, and leave both mind and body in good shape, any 
easier than the farmer can pull the weeds out of his corn after they have 
grown, and leave both ground and corn in good shape. 

The smaller the child when those things are rooted out the easier it is 
done, and the cleaner, the whiter, the more like snow, that little mind will be 


GOD-MADE PREACHERS. 


307 


after it is grown. The mother that roots out the thorn and the tare from her 
infant’s mind as soon as that thorn or tare is visible (without waiting until 
those disobediences are large enough to drive the mother into anger — though 
t hat mother never spoke to that child of prayer), that mother has created a 
hundred fold more Christianity than the mother that has taught her child to 
pray daily, but never spoke to her child of those thorns or tares — who has 
permitted her child to disobey her commands, her husband’s commands, and 
its teacher’s commands. 

To-day we have God-made preachers; those are true Christians at heart, 
and will say what God through a righteous judgment tells them is right, 
regardless of what others think or say. Then we have man-made preachers, 
who study to keep themselves up to date, who will study upon what they may 
say, not to offend “the most feeble” members or a sinner. But (14:12) 
“every one. . . .shall give account of himself to God.” From what James 
and Peter said of Paul’s faith without work, and from what Paul himself 
says, it appears that Paul leaned that way himself, that he might win more 
into the church, for he says (15:18): “For I will not dare to speak of 
any of those things. . . .to make the Gentiles obedient, by word and deed.” 
(Cor. 3:2) “I have fed you with milk, and not with meat; for hitherto ye 
were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able. ” But Paul further 
tells us that we have works to do, and he says) : (8) ‘ ‘ every man shall 

receive his own reward according to his own labour.” (16) f ‘Know ye not 
that ye are the temple of God, and that the spirit of God dwelleth in you?” 
(5:11) “If any man (or woman) that is called a brother (or sister) be cov- 
etous, or anidolator, ora railer, ora drunkard, or an extortioner,” (13) “put 
away from among yourselves that wicked person.” 

If we put such persons out of the church we manifest works under Paul’s 
instructions. 

6:8. “Ye do wrong and defraud.” (9) “Know yet not that the 
unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? .... Idolaters, nor 
adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor 
thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall 
inherit the kingdom of God. ” 

Almost everything that man or woman should abstain from is mentioned 
here. But we cannot indulge our children in any fault until they are grown, 
and then abstain them from it 

7:3. “ Let the husband render unto the wife due benevolence, and like- 

wise also the wife unto the husband.” 

This is the greatest of all of Paul’s advice. This touches the home cir- 
cle, where we can build up a little heaven below, and do away with a little 
hell upon earth. But when we find them that manifest those tokens of love, 
the devil that is in the spectator says : “Oh, how silly, how silly that is!” Love 
is Christ; tokens of love are tokens of Christ. What did Jesus say? 
“Whosoever shall be ashamed of me (love) and of my words (loving words) 
of him shall the Son of Man be ashamed when He shall come in His own glory.” 


308 


HOW ARE WE LED? 


7:10. “I command, yet not I, but the Lord, let not the wife depart 
from her husband,” (11) ‘‘and let not the husband put away his wife.” 

Paul says to man and wife, Do away with separation ; but he does not say 
do away with the hell fire that rolls from the human tongue, that causes sep 
aration. I say with the thorn and the tare, as I say with all other trees, if 
you want to do away with it, grub out the root. 

Paul acknowledges that some of his writings are not an inspiration from 
God. He says (12): “The rest speak I, not the Lord:” (25) “Concerning 
virgins I have no commandment of the Lord, yet I give my judgment.” 
(Then he turns again to the Scripture and says) (9 :8) : ‘ ‘Say I these things as a 
man, or saith not the law the same also?” (17) “If I do this thing will- 
ingly, I have a reward, but if against my will, a dispensation of the gospel 
is committed unto me.” 

This is the case with the world ; if we do our rightepus works willingly we 
have our reward, but if we are compelled to do them against our will it is 
the compulsory works of civil law, not the works of God’s law. 

II. Cor. 13:7. “I pray to God that ye do no evil. . . .but that ye should 
do that which is honest. ” (11) “Live in peace.” (Gal. 1:7) “There be 

some that trouble you, and would prevent the gospel of Christ.” 

Dear reader, as we have not the sermons of Jesus or his Apostles, we 
do not know what the doctrine of Christ was, any more than what righteous 
jugdment teaches us. Now, may I ask, is my book a preventer of the gospel 
of Jesus Christ? Or is the gospel — true teachings of Jesus Christ — already 
perverted? And is not my book a restorer of the true doctrine — gospel of 
Christ? Let righteous judgment, not old teachings, answer. 

4:16. “Am I therefore become your enemy because I tell you the 
truth?” 

Am I become your enemy because I tell you the truth? Or have you 
become my enemy because I tell you the truth? Or is it all right that I tell 
you those words and then leave you to use your own judgment? 

We have studied the apostolic writings for nearly nineteen hundred years, 
with but very little advancement in comparison with the time. It i3 now time 
that we begin to study something more. It is now time that the common 
class of people study the Holy Scriptures with more earnestness than it ever 
has been studied. And, in addition to that, let us study upon the rooting 
out of those evils from the human mind before they are sprouted by the 
mothers taking the lead. Let the mothers properly compel their children to 
obedience before they are old enough to come unto the compulsion of civil 
law, and then thereafter they will shun compulsion of their own free will. 

If the mothers learn their children to leave off all kind of little infant 
wrongs, such as stealing their playmates’ toys; striking, pinching and hurt- 
ing their playmates, their puppy or kitten, that they may have to play 
with; crippling little birds; and omitting those little evils, learn them to love 
all kinds of little infant righteous words and deeds, they will not depart from 
it. But above all things, let obedience take the lead. 


DO GOOD UNTO A -L MEN. 


309 


Those little trifling things seem unworthy of notice, but they are the 
roots of the great evils, and the great evils cannot grow without roots. The 
hardest part of training a child should be the two first years of its life ; but 
mother’s pay no attention to training, until the child is rude enough to drive 
her into anger. 

The child that has learned to promptly obey its parents and its teacher, 
is one of the children that Jesus said: “let the little children come unto Me, 
for of such is the kingdom of heaven,” and Christ will seek that child, and 
that child will seek Christ, though many may say, “Oh, he is not a Christian, 
he is only a moralist:” but Christ will claim him. Remember that Jesus 
left the Jewish church and took to true morals; Christianity was not known 
then. “If we live in the spirit, let us also walk in the spirit.” “Let us not 
be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another.” Gal. 5: 25, 26. 

Gal. 6:7. “Be not deceived. . . .for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall 
he also reap.” (10) “Let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who 
are of the household, (the home circle) (Eph. 2: 10) “For we are. . . .(Gods) 
workmanship, created. . . .unto good works.” (4:17) “I say therefore. . . . 
that ye henceforth, walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their 
mind. ” (19) ‘ ‘Who being past feeling have given themselves over unto las- 

civiousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness.” (28) “Let him that 
stole, steal no more; but rather let him labour, working with his hands the 
things which is good.” (29) “Let no corrupt communication proceed out 
of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may 
minister grace unto the hearers.” (31) “Let all bitterness and wrath, and 
anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you with all malice: 
and be ye kind one to another. ” (5:4) 4 ‘Neither filthiness nor foolish talking. ” 
(11) “And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but 
rather reprove them.” (33) “Nevertheless, let every one of you in particu- 
lar so love his wife, even as himself, and the wife see that she reverence her 
husband.” 

Here Paul tells us to live a Christian life at home, and to raise our 
children righteously; he does not tell us to put them into a church, but to 
raise them right. Then he turns and tells the children to do what is im- 
possible for children to do, that are permitted to grow up in human nature 
without any compulsive training. He says, (6:1) “children obey your par- 
ents .... for this is right. ” (4) ‘ ‘And, ye fathers provoke not your children 
to wrath; but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.” 

He says, “father provoke not your children to wrath. ” The father or the 
mother that permits their child to disobey their word until the parent gets 
mad, and then unreasonably punishes the child, drives it into wrath ; and it is 
the words that the parent uses, that enrages the child. 

(5) “Servants, be obedient to them that are your masters, ” (6) “not 
with eye service, as men pleasers; but as the servants of Christ, doing the 
will of God from the heart,” (7) “with goodwill doing service, as to the 
Lord.” (8) “Knowing that whatsoever good thing any man doeth, the same 


310 


HOW ARE WE LED? 


shall he receive of the Lord, whether he be bond or free.” (9) “And ye 
master’s do the same thing unto them. ” (Philip, 1 :6) “Being confident 
of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you, will per- 
form it until the day of Jesus Christ.” (2:14) “Do all things without mur- 
muring and disputing,” (16) “holding forth the word of life.” 

To obey those teachings of Paul, we must bridle the mortal tongue. 

(3:1) “To write the same things to you, to me indeed is not grievous, 
but for you it is safe. ” (2) “Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, be' 

ware of the conscience, ” Paul says, ‘ ‘beware of evil workers, beware of the 
conscience. ” I say, trust to your own judgment, what is right and what is 
wrong, before your God ; then your conscience will be guilty and condemned 
you for a cause well known to yourself, or else your conscience will be cleaner 
and whiter than snow, regardless of what your neighbors say. 

Paul was a Hebrew, and (5) “as touching the law, a pharisee.” That is, 
he was a true Israelite — a true religious man — a true believer in God’s divine 
law found in the Old Testament: he was not a hypocrite. (I Cor. 9:17.) 
“For if T do this thing willingly I have a reward. ” (Yet he was not perfect.) 

Philip 3:12. “Not as though I had already attained, either were 
already perfect: but I follow after. . . .that I may apprehend that for which 
... .1 am apprehended of Christ Jesus.” (4:3) “And I entreat thee also. . . . 
help those women which laboured with me in the Gospel, with Clement also, 
and with other of my fellow labourers, whose names are in the book of life.” 

(8) “Brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are 
honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever 
things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any vir- 
tue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. ” (9) “Those things 

which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do;” 
(Col. 1:10) “That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being 
fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God:” (29) 
“I also labour, striving according to his working, which worketh in me 
mightily. ” 

(2:21) “Touch not, taste not, handle not,” (22) “which all are to 
perish with the using . ” (3:5) “Mortify therefore. ... uncleanness, inordi- 

nate affection, evil concupiscence and covetousness, which is idolatry,” (7) 
“in the which ye also walked sometime.” (8) “But now ye also put off 
all these: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy; filthy communication out of 
your mouth.” (9) “Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the 

old man with his deeds. ” (12.) “Put on bowels of mercies, kindness, 

humbleness of mind, meekness, long suffering, forbearing one another, and 
forgiving one another.” (14.) “Above all these things put on charity, 
which is the bond of perfectness.” (15) “And let the peace of God rule in 
your hearts.” (16) “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wis- 
dom.” (18) “Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands.” (19) 
“Husbands, love your wives, and be not bitter against them.” 

Paul repeats those words almost word for word, as he has given them 


GIVE THANKS TO GOD ALWAYS. 


311 


before, telling us what to do after we are grown, but not telling us how to 
cultivate the minds of our children, whilst their minds are growing. But 
he goes on to say, (20) “children, obey your parents in all things.” (21) 
“Fathers provoke not your children to anger,” (22) “servants, obey in all 
things your masters .... in singleness of heart,” (23) “and whatsoever ye 
do, doit heartity.” (25) “But he that doeth wrong shall receive for the 
wrong which he hath done: and there is no respect of persons.” 

Paul said, there is no respect of persons, this kills the idea of there being 
a definite number that can not be changed — that was predestined and fore- 
ordained before the creation of the world. 

1 Thess. 1:2 “We give thanks to God always for you all.” (3) 

‘ ‘Remembering without ceasing your work of faith, and labour of love, and 
patience of hope.” (2:11) “Ye know how we exhorted, and comforted, and 
charged every one of you, as a father doth his children,” (12) “that ye 
would walk worthy of God, who hath called you unto His kingdom and glory. ” 
(18) “We would have come unto you, even I, Paul, once and again; but 
Satan hindered us.” 

Satan hindered Paul, and" Satan hinders us, and Satan always hinders 
Christian labor. And we have got to learn to depend upon our own judg- 
ment, not depend upon the judgment of others; if we do, Satan will deceive 
us. (4: 3) “For this is the will of God.” (4) “That everyone of you should 
know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honor. ” 

4:9 ‘ ‘As touching brotherly love, ye need not that I write unto you : 

for ye yourselves are taught of God to love one another.” (10) “And .... 
we beseech you, brethren, that ye increase more and more,” (11) “and 
that ye study to be quiet, and to do your own business, and to work with 
your own hands, as we commanded you.” (12) “That ye may walk 
honestly toward them that are without, and that ye may have lack of 
nothing. ” 

Paul says that they have got to lay aside dishonest gain, and labor with 
their own hands, if they become righteous. This is works, not faith, or 
grace. 

5: 6. “Therefore, let us not sleep, . . . .but let us watch and be sober.” 
(13) “To esteem them very highly in love for their works’ sake.” (19) 
“Quench not the spirit. Despise not prophesying.” (21) “Prove all 
things; hold fast to that which is good.” (22) “Abstain from all appear- 
ance of evil.” (II. Thess. 2: 12) “That they all might be damned who. . . . 
had pleasure in unrighteousness.” 

17. “Comfort your hearts, and stablish you in every good word and 
work.” (3:3) “The Lord is faithful, who shall stablish you, and keep you 
from evil.” (4) “And we have confidence in the Lord, touching you, that 
ye both do and will do the things which we command you. ” (6) ‘ ‘Now, we 

command you, brethren, .... that ye withdraw yourselves from every brother 
that walketh disorderly,” (7) “for yourselves know how ye ought to 
follow us; for we behaved not ourselves disorderly among you.” (8) 


312 


HOW ARE WE LED? 


“Neither did we eat any man’s bread for nought; but wrought with labor, 
and travailed night and day, that we might not be chargeable to any of you.’ 

Do our preachers of the present day follow Paul’s example, or eat our 
bread for nothing? If they visit us and we are needy of a little help, do 
they wrought with their own hands? If we give them a thousand dollars a 
year, they want the last cent that is their due; but if they have business near 
you, they will come and stay with you for days, or weeks, without thinking 
one cent is your due, or without one moment’s labor from their own hands. 
A poor man should be charitable, and a man getting a salary of $1000 or 
$1200 a year should render charity in return. If a little labor would spoil 
their clothes, when they are among laboring people let them wear clothes 
that will stand labor; their salaries are large enough that they can buy two 
suits of clothes. If they have two coats, they are not obliged to give away 
one, and aside from that, poor folks would better enjoy a visit from a preach- 
er and his family, if he were dressed like a poor man, and his family dressed 
accordingly. Then we would not feel ashamed of our own clothes. (3 : 9) 
“Not because we have not power (to buy good clothes), but to make our- 
selves an example unto you to follow us,” (10) “for even when we were 
with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither 
should he eat.” 

Enlightenment changes times, customs, and fashions. To-day it is not 
necessary for the preacher to work, but let him visit the poor as well as the 
rich; let him dress so that they will not feel ashamed of their dress; then let 
him get around and see if they are needy of help; if so, render a charitable 
hand ; then we’ll be friends to the preacher. If the preacher does not want 
to do this, let him take his high salary and pay for what he gets from the 
poor Christian, sick or well, the same as others do. 

One of our preachers receiving $600 yearly salary, recently took sick. 
One of his members, scarcely able to earn his own living, took some provis- 
ion to the sick minister. When he told the minister what he had brought 
him, the minister did not thank him, but remarked: “If you have any 
breadstuff to give to the Lord, you can talk to my wife.” 

If one of the brethren work for you on the farm, and if you pay him 
wages enough to support himself and family — if you pay him all the wages 
that you have agreed to pay him ; if you have hired a preacher to work for 
you in the pulpit, and if you pay him a salary enough to support himself 
and family — if you pay him all the salary that you have agreed upon : — if 
brother and preacher get sick, — I say, treat them both alike: donate to the 
brother, the same as you donate to the preacher. 

3:11. “We hear that there are some which walk among you disorderly.” 
(13) “But ye, brethren, be not weary in well doing. ” (14) “And if any 

man obey not our word by this epistle, note that man, and have no company 
with him. ” 

Paul next speaks of the law. I ask righteous judgment ; is he speaking 
of divine law, or is he speaking of civil law — national law? 


USE RIGHTEOUS JUDGMENT. 


313 


I. Tim. 1.9. ‘ ‘Knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous 
man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, 
for unholy and profane, for murderers,” (10) “And if there be any other 
thing that is contrary to sound doctrine.” 

Paul could not tell us plainer than he does here, to use righteous judg- 
ment. And what do we want plainer than this, that Paul, was alluding to 
national law. There was never a person on earth with a sound mind, neither 
before Jesus nor since His time, who wanted to do right — who wanted to be 
righteous, and at the same time depended upon compulsory laws com- 
pelling him to do right. 

There is a place that we can commit a sin and it be no sin for ua, but 
where is it? There is no human being who arrives to years of maturity, but 
who finds that they will meet sin in some place, that they cannot shun. 
They will arrive at a spot where some sin is in front of them ; they may stop 
and look to the right, and they will find sin there; they may turn to the left, 
and they will find sin there; and if they fly mad and go headlong, they com- 
mit a sin; but if they calmly and coolly reflect upon the three evils, and 
choose the least, they must do a wrong, but it is no sin; their conscience is 
clean, and their minds are whiter than snow. “Of the three evils, choose ye 
the least. ” (2 : 9) ‘ ‘In like manner also .... (let) women adorn themselves 

. . . .not with braided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array.” But, 

With the evils that’s before them, if the least they will do, 

That will robe them, and make them still whiter than snow, 

Still whiter than snow, still whiter than snow 

That will robe them, and make them still whiter than snow, 

2: 10. “Which becometh women professing godliness.” 

In the next three verses, Paul makes a great error; it is not a sin, but 
frailty in his judgment. 

Paul says, (11) “Let the women learn in silence, with all subjection.” 
(12) “But I suffer not a woman to teach.... but to be in silence.” (13) 
“For Adam was first formed, then Eve.” (14) “And Adam was not 
deceived, but the woman being deceived, was in the transgression.” 

Mother (Eve) received instruction from the devil ; mother had knowledge 
of right and wrong before man had that knowledge: mother taught that 
knowledge to her husband; mother was the first human being ever giving 
instruction, on the face of the earth. Now, Paul says that mothers must 
not instruct, but must be instructed in silence. 

All the way through the Hebrew records, we find that woman could lead 
man into her will and ways, if she would go to him in kindness; but being 
more delicately formed, she could not rule him through compulsion. And 
woman stands the same to-day; her kind and loving counsel goes a great 
way with man, but her devilish words are despised by all men. 


CHAPTER XXX. 


Rule well your own house. If a man desire the office of a bishop. It’s a 
woman’s place to rule the house. Paul’s great faith. What James says 
about Paul’s faith. Paul’s works. Faith without works is dead. A 
church member that swears. How to love God. 

Tim. 3 : 1. “If a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good 
work.” (2) “A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, 
vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach: not 
given to wine, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre, but patient, not a 
brawler, not covetous:” (4) “One that ruleth well his own house, having his 
children in subjection with all gravity.” 

It is an easy matter for a man to rule well his own farm, but no man that 
works outside of his house, can rule well his own house. If he has no wife 
in his house, when he is at his work, his children are like lost sheep without a 
shepherd. If he has a wife, that wife has her way of ruling her house, or 
she is as a wolf among lost sheep. 

It is a woman’s place to rule the house well, and it is the woman’s place 
to have the children under good subjection. If a woman rules her house 
well, she truly pleases a wise husband. If a woman rules her house well, 
and has her children under good subjection to obedience, why should not 
the woman receive the praise? whether her husband is a bishop or not. 

A woman has a hundred fold more power to rule her house well, and to 
keep her children under good subjection, than a man has: if she only uses 
that power in due season, and in the right way. But it was the fashion in 
the old Israelitic times, it was the fashion in Paul’s time, and it is the fashion 
still to-day, if a woman makes her home a little heaven below, the husband 
gets all the praise: and if she deals out hellfire, until she scatters her home 
circle to the four winds of the earth, the husband must also bear all the 
stain. 

II. Tim. 4 : 5. “Watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of 
an evangelist.” (Titus. 1:5.) “Ordain elders in every city.” (6) “ If any be 
blameless, the husband of one wife, having faithful children not accused of 
riot or unruly,” (7) “for a bishop must be blameless, as the steward of 
God; not self-willed, not soon angry, not given to wine, no striker, not given 
to filthy lucre.” (8) “But a lover of hospitality, a lover of good men, sober, 
just, holy, temperate.” 

Can our churches find plenty of men for their deacons, bishops and 
elders; whom they and their children fill the above requirements? If not, if 
they put men into those offices whom they or their children lack in any of 
those requirements, they disagree with the Bible, and not for improvement, 
but for the worse. I ask righteous judgment, can you find one word in all 
my writing, where I disagree (to the worse) with the righteous teachings of 


A PATTERN OF GOOD WORK8. 


315 


the Bible? Can you find one word wherein I disagree with the righteousness 
of God? 

1 : 16. “They profess that they know God; but in works they deny 
him.” (2 :1) “But speak thou the things which become sound doctrine; (2) 

‘ ‘that the aged men be sober, grave, temperate, sound in faith, in charity, in 
patience.” (3) “The aged women likewise, that they be in behaviour as be- 
cometh holiness. . . .teachers of good things.” (4) “that they may teach the 
young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love (the spirit — the 
mind of) their children,” (5) to be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, 
obedient to their own husbands. ” 

Paul tells the old men and old women to be good. I ask, is not it far 
easier for the old men and old women to be good who have practiced it all 
their lives, than it is for those who have followed an evil life up to old age, 
and then turn to a righteous life? But Paul followed up by advising the 
young men and young women to do the same: I go farther than Paul, I 
advise the mothers to raise their babies right, then they will do right after 
they are raised. 

2:6. “Young men likewise exhort to be sober minded. ” (7) “In all 

things showing thyself a pattern of good works, (and of) (8) sound speech that 
can not be condemned.” (10) “That they may adorn the doctrine of God 
our Saviour in all things. ” (11) “For the grace of God that bringeth salva- 
tion hath appeared to all men. ” (12) “Touching us that, denying ungod- 

liness and wordly lust, we should live soberly. . . .and godly.” (15) “These 
things speak, and exhort and rebuke with ail authority.” (3: 1) “Put them 
in mind to be ... . ready to every good work.” (8) “These things I will that 
thou affirm constantly, that they which have believed in God might be careful 
to maintain good works. ” (14) “And let ours also learn to maintain good 

works.” (Phil. 17) “If thou count me therefore a partner, receive him as 
myself.” (19) “I, Paul, have written it with my own hand. ” (21) “Hav- 
ing confidence in thy obedience I wrote unto thee, knowing that thou wilt 
also do more than I say.” 

Heb. 4. 9. “There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God.” 
(10) “For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own 
works, as God did from His.” 

Here Paul says, they have ‘ ‘ceased from their works. ” But he goes on 
to say: (11) “Let us labour. . . .to enter into that rest.” (13: 16) “To do 
good and to communicate, forget not.” (18) “Pray for us; for we trust we 
have a good conscience, in all things willing to live honestly. ” (21) “Make 
you perfect in every good work to do His will, working in you that which is 
well pleasing in His sight.” 

Now we have searched Paul’s letters from first to last, and when we read 
his remarks as touching faith, we could not help believing that he intended 
to include all means or possibilities of gaining a reward in heaven, is wholly 
through the will of God, regardless of the works, words, will or inclination of 


316 


HOW ARE WE LED? 


man or woman. “For by grace are ye saved through faith,” “and that not 
of yourselves;” “it is the gift of God; not of works. ” 

But when we read what Peter and James said of Paul’s faith, (“thou 
hast faith and I have works; shew me thy faith without thy works and I will 
shew thee my faith by my works.” “Add to your faith, virtue; and to virtue, 
knowledge, and to knowledge, temperance, and to temperance, patience, and to 
patience, godliness, and to godliness, brotherly kindness, and to brotherly 
kindness, charity. ”) and when we read and sift Paul’s letters, we find en- 
tirely a different meaning. 

Paul speaks so much as though man or woman has no power in them- 
selves, to prepare themselves for either heaven or hell, but in the reading of 
the Bible as well as in the reading of anything else, we ought to thoroughly 
study both sides of the question and then use our own judgment. And when 
we read both sides of Paul’s letters, we find that he tells us that we have great 
works to do before we become joint heirs with Jesus Christ. 

Principally all that I differ with the doctrine of Paul is, Paul teaches us 
that every person must grub out the thorn and the tare out of their own mind 
after those thorns and tares are fully grown, whilst I teach the mothers to 
keep those thorns and tares rooted out of their infants’ minds from their birth 
by using compulsion mild and pleasantly and without anger, and by cultivat- 
ing their own tongues that their offsprings may inherit a mild and pleasant 
tongue. 

But let us further examine James’ writing. James 2:22: “Seest thou 
how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect?” 
(14) 1 ‘What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith and 
have not works? Can faith save him?” (15) “If a brother or sister be 
naked and destitute of daily food and one of you say unto them, depart in 
peace, be ye warmed and filled ; notwithstanding ye give them not those things 
which are needful to the body; what doth it profit?” (17) “Even so faith, 
if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.” 

James uses his own righteous judgment regardless of what has been 
taught or told him, and his judgment is great. 

(18) “Yea, a man may say, thou hast faith and I have works, shew me 
thy faith without thy works and I will shew thee my faith by my works.” 
(21) “Was not Abraham, our father, justified by works?” (24) “Ye see 
then how that by works a man is justified and not by faith only.” (25) 
‘ ‘Likewise also was not Rahab the harlot justified by works when she had re- 
ceived the messengers and had sent them out another way?” 

How plain James tells us that it is our works that commend us to an 
heirship in heaven. He tells us that Abraham was justified by his works, 
whilst Paul says it was by faith. He also tells us that the harlot was justi- 
fied by her works, while Paul tells us that she was justified by her faith ; 
which shall we believe? Let us use our own judgment. 

The book of James is the richest of all books that are contained in the 
Bible, and as there are many who never read the Bible I feel it my duty to 


WHAT JAMES SAYS. 


317 


copy almost the entire book of James that my readers may see wherein James 
gives more righteous teachings than all of the others of the apostles. (26) 
“For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead 
also. ” 

CHAPTER III. 

“ 1 We are not rashly or arrogantly to reprove others : 5 hut rather to bridle the 
tongue } a little member , but a powerful instrument of much good , and great 
harm. 13 They who be truly wise be mild and peaceable , without envying, and 
strife. 

M Y brethren, be not many masters, knowing' that we shall receive the greater 
condemnation. 

2 For in many thing's we offend all. If any man offend not in word, the 
same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body. 

3 Behold, we put bits in the horses’ mouths, that they may obey us; and we 
turn about their whole body. 

4 Behold also the ships, which, though they be so great, and are driven of 
fierce winds, yet are they turned about with a very small helm, whithersoever the 
governor listeth. 

5 Even so the tongue is a little member, and boasteth great things. Behold, 
how great a matter a little fire kindleth! 

6 And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity; so is the tongue among our 
members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; 
and it is set on fire of hell. 

7 For every kind of beasts, and of birds, and of serpents, and of things in the 
sea, is tamed and hath been tamed, of mankind. 

8 But the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. 

9 Therewith bless we God, even the Father; and therewith curse we men, 
which are made after the similitude of God. 

10 Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, 
these things ought not so to be. 

11 Doth a fountain send forth at the same place sweet water and bitter? 

12 Can the fig-tree, my brethren, bear olive-berries? either a vine, figs? so can 
no fountain both yield salt water and fresh. 

13 Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? let him shew 
out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom. 

14 But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie 
not against the truth. 

15 This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish. 
16 For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work. 

17 But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, 
and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and 
without hypocrisy. 

18 And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace.” 

CHAPTER IV. 

“ 1 We are to strive against covetousness , 4 intemperance, 5 pride , 11 detraction and 
rash judgment of others : 13 and not to be confident in the good success of 
worldly business, but mindful ever of the uncertainty of this life, to commit our- 
selves and ail our affairs to God's providence. 

F ROM whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of 
your lusts that war in your members? 


318 


HOW ARE WE LED ? 


3 Ye lust and have not; ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain; ye 
fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not. 

3 Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon 
your lusts. 

4 Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the 
world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the 
enemy of God. 

5 Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in 
us lusteth to envy? 

6 But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, 
but giveth grace unto the humble. 

7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from 

you. 

8 Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye 
sinners, and purify your hearts, ye double-minded. 

9 Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourn- 
ing, and your joy to heaviness. 

10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up. 

11 Speak not evil one of another, brethren. He that speaketh evil of his 
brother, and judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of the law, and judgeth the law: 
but if thou judge the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge. 

12 There is one lawgiver who is able to save, and to destroy: who art thou 
that judgest another? 

13 Go to now, ye that say, To-day or to-morrow we will go into such a city, 
and continue there a year, and buy, and sell, and get gain: 

14 Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? 
It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. 

15 For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this or 
that. 

16 But now ye rejoice in your boastings: all such rejoicing is evil. 

17 Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is 
sin.” 


“ 5: 12 But above all things, my brethren, swear not, neither by heaven, 
neither by the earth, neither by any other oath: but let your yea, be yea; and 
your nay, nay; lest ye fall into condemnation.” 

1:5. “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all 
men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.” (6) “But let 
him ask in faith, nothing wavering; for he that wavereth is like a wave of 
the sea driven with the wind and tossed.” (14) “But every man is tempted 
when he is drawn away of his own lust and enticed.” (15) “Then when lust 
hath conceived it bringeth forth sin, and sin, when it is finished, bringeth 
forth death.” (16) “Do not err.” (19) “Let every man (woman or child) 
be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath.” (20) “For the wrath of 
man (woman or child) worketh not the righteousness of God. ” (21) ‘ ‘Where- 

fore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness (the word naughti- 
ness includes the little trifling evils — the roots of the greater evils the every 

day sins and short comings) and receive with meekness the engrafted word 
which is able to save your soul. ” (22) ‘ ‘But be ye doers of the word and not 
hearers only.” (23) “For if any be a hearer of the word and not a doer, he 
(or she) is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass.” (25) “But 
whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty and continueth therein, he 


LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR. 


319 


being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed 
in his deed.” (26) (But) “If any man (woman or child) among you seem 
to be religious and bridleth not his (or her) tongue, but deceiveth his own 
heart this man’s (or woman’s) religion is vanity. ” (27) “Pure religion and 

undefiled before God and the Father is this, to visit the fatherless and widow 
in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world. ” 


CHAPTER II. 


“It is not agreeable to Christian profession to regard the rich , and to despise the poor 
brethren: 13 rather we are to be loving, and merciful: 14 and not to boast of 
faith where no deeds are, 17 which is but a dead faith, 19 the faith of devils , 
21 and not of Abraham, 25 and Rahab. 

M Y brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, 
with respect of persons. 

2 For if there come unto your assembly, a man with a gold ring, in goodly 
apparel, and there come in also a man in vile raiment; 

3 And ye have respect to him that weareth the gay clothing, and say unto 
him, Sit thou here in a good place; and say to the poor, Stand thou there, or sit 
here under my footstool; 

4 Are ye not then partial in yourselves, and are become judges of evil 
thoughts? 

5 Hearken, my beloved brethren, Hath not God chosen the poor of this 
world rich in faith,, and heirs of the kingdom which He hath promised to them 
that love him? 

6 But ye have despised the poor. Do not rich men oppress you, and draw 
you before the judgment seats? 

7 Do not they blaspheme that worthy name by the which ye are called? 

8 If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy 
neighbor as thyself, ye do well: 

9 But if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the 
law as transgressors. 

10 For whosoever shall keep the whole law,, and yet offend in one point, he 
is guilty of all. 

11 For he that said, Do not commit adultery; said also, Do not kill. Now if 
thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of 
the law. 

12 So speak ye, and so do, as they that shall be judged by the law of liberty. 
13 For he shall have judgment without mercy, that hath shewed no mercy; 
and mercy rejoiceth against judgment. 

14 What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have 
not works? can faith save him? 

15 If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food. 

16 And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; 
nothwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; 
what doth it profit? 

17 Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. 

18 Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works; shew me thy 
faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works. 

19 Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also 
believe, and tremble. 

20 But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead? 


320 


HOW ARE WE LED? 


21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered 
Isaac his son upon the altar? 

22 Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith 
made perfect? 

23 And the scripture was fulfilled, which saith, Abraham believed God, and 
it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God. 

24 Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only. 

25 Likewise also was not Rahab the harlot justified by works, when she had 
received the messengers, and had sent them out another way? 

26 For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is 
dead also.” 

Now we find that James tells us that it is our works rather than our faith 
that takes us to heaven, and he points out these every day sins and short- 
comings, and he pointed out our mortal tongue in particular, and tells us that 
we must bridle our own tongue to become a Christian. New we will turn to 
Peter and see what we can find there. 

I Peter 1:2. “ Elect according to the fore-knowledge of God the Father, 

through sanctification of the spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood 
of Jesus Christ. ” 

I have here introduced Peter’s letter, by stepping outside of the line of 
faith or works. As I find a great deal said in the New Testament, as well as 
in the pulpits, by our preachers, of the blood of J esus Christ being sprinkled 
throughout many nations, that it seems necessary’ to reflect upon this matter a 
little. So I will ask the question, What is the blood of Jesus Christ? Jesus 
used water, wine, and the like as a spiritual parable ; I likewise use a tree as 
a spiritual parable. When Jesus asked his hearers to drink of the living 
waters, that they might have life everlasting — when he told them to drink 
of the wine, for it was his blood; He, in a spiritual parable, asked them to 
partake freely of the righteous mind of God : to wash and cleanse their own 
mind by freely drinking in of the mind of God: and to let that righteous mind 
guide their works. When I ask you to climb the great tree of life, to become 
a branch of the tree of life, I likewise ask you to drink in of the very same 
righteous mind of the very same God : and to let that mind guide your words 
and your works. 

The mortal blood of Jesus that flowed on Calvary, dried up and wasted 
away nearly nineteen hundred years ago. This was the liquid part of the 
mortal body — the temple that Christ dwelt in, and its power was spent and 
gone when the mortal body was crucified. When Jesus spake in parable of 
their drinking of His blood, it was God that spake through the lips of that 
earthly tabernacle, speaking of their drinking in of His spiritual blood — the 
very same righteous mind of the very same God; and to-day where we are 
sprinkled with the blood of Christ, we are sprinkled with nothing more nor 
less than that righteous mind of God. Every person that drinks freely of 
the blood of Christ, that is washed in the blood of Christ, or that is baptized 
with the Holy Ghost, has only freely partaken of that very same righteous 
mind of that very same God, and they will have a desire in themselves to 
think good, speak good, and to do good, not bad. Any person (whether a 


GOD S MIND IS NEVEP. CAST OUT. 


321 


cliurck member or not) who talks mean to or about their neighbors, jaws, 
scolds, curses or swears, is not baptized with the Holy Ghost — is not washed 
with the blood of Christ — has not drank freely of the living waters of Christ 
— is not guided by the righteous mind of God, and does not bring forth good 
fruits, even though they go to church regular, and partake of their bread and 
wine frequently. When you are washed in the blood of Christ, it is only the 
mind that is washed ; and when the mind is washed, it is only the blackness 
of crime that is washed from the mind; and when you have passed by that 
crime without doing it, it is then that your mind is washed whiter than snow, 
and it is washed with the mind of God. (1-17). “And if ye call on the 
Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man’s 
works.” (2: 1). “Wherefore, laying aside all malice, and all guilt, and hypoc- 
risies, and envies, and all evil speaking.” (2). “As new born babes, desire 
the sincere milk of the word.” 

I was once called down by a preacher, who told me that < ‘we must grub 
out the old tree — the old spirit, clean out the ground, and plant and grow a 
new tree from the ground up. ‘ Except ye become as new born babes,’ and 
grow a new spirit, ye cannot enter the kingdom of Heaven.” 

But I did not believe all this because a preacher told me so ; I used my 
own judgment, and my judgment tells me that our mind is our spirit; our 
mind is the book in which all are recorded ; and if we can grub out our old 
mind, if we can caSu aside our old mind, entirely forget forever all of the 
past and become as new born babes without a mind, and grow entirely a new 
mind, we are not in the image of God : for God’s mind is never cast out ; what 
is once recorded there is there forever. 

But Peter said, ‘ ‘laying aside all malice and all guilt, and .... evil speak- 
ing, as new born babes.” To lay aside those things, is not to annihilate our 
mind, and have no mind or memory of the past; but we can cleanse our mind, 
wash it in the mind of Christ, make it “whiter than snow;” as white and as 
clean as the mind of a new born babe; “and as new born babes, desire the 
sincere milk of the word” — the sincere mind of Christ. 

When I was first married I asked my wife to let us live a life perfectly 
free from talking about our neighbors. In order to do this we should bridle 
our own tongue against all evil. Had we have bridled our tongue against all 
evil, and have followed that through life, though an infidel to the great faith 
and grace doctrine, we would have lived in a little “heaven below” — we would 
have walked in the doctrine of Christ — we would have been Christians at 
heart without bearing the name ; we would have bore a mind washed as clean 
and as white as a new born babe, drinking “the sincere milk of the word.” 

Hear companions, bridle your tongues against all evil, in your own home 
circle first, then to the world, then you will be a drinking of the ‘ ‘ sincere 
milk of the word” — God’s mind. Then God will stand in the midst of all 
the churches and point his finger at you (a way out in the dark world — over 
in the land of Uz) — and say: “See my servants Olive and Job, there are 
none like them.” For no person can successfully do evil if they never speak 


322 


HOW AKE WE LED? 


or listen to evil words. And if you love the words, the actions, the mind of 
your children, bridle their tongue also. Peter says : 

2: 11. “Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, 
abstain from fleshly lust, which war against the soul.” 

If your tongue is well bridled, this lust is well conquered. 

15. “For so is the will of God, that with well doing ye may put to 
silence the ignorance of foolish men.” 

3: 10. “For he that will love life, and see good days, let him refrain his 
tongue from evil, and his lips that they speak no guilt.” 

The lying words are a far less sin than the other evils that roll from the 
mortal tongue; so, “of the two evils choose ye the least. ” If you have got 
to lie or participate in hell fire, “of the two evils choose the least;” your own 
judgment must judge which is least. When a raising my boys, let them do 
what wrong they might, I never dealt out hell fire to them when they told me the 
truth ; by so doing I gave them a chance to avoid ‘ ‘ both evils ” — the lying and 
the hell fire. I would talk to them pleasantly ; tell them that they should not 
do such wrongs, but if they would tell me the truth about it that would mend 
it. Had I have whipped them, and have cursed them when they told me the 
truth, they would have been fools to have told me the truth the next time; 
they would have been fools had they not ‘ ‘of the two evils chosen the least, ” 
and have told the lie. 

3:13. “Who is he that will harm you, if ye be followers of that which is 
good”? (16) “Having a good conscience .... they may be ashamed that 
falsely accuse your good conversation in Christ”; (17) “for it is better if 
the will of God be so, that ye suffer for well doing than for evil doing. ” (4:6) 
“For this cause” (the cause of well doing, not the cause of great faith), “for 
this cause was the Gospel preached” (3). “For. . . . when we walked in las- 
civiousness, lusts, excess of wine, revelings, banquetings and abominable 
idolatries”. (5) “Who shall give account to him that. . . .judge”; (6) “for 
this cause was the Gospel preached .... that they might .... live according to 
God”. (7) “Be ye therefore sober” ; (8) “And above all things have fer- 
vent charity among yourselves (at home first)”. (15) “But let none of you 
suffer as a murderer, or as a thief, or as an evil doer. (“An evil doer” 
covers everything that a person can do that is wrong), “or as a busy body in 
other men’s matters”; (16) “yet, if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not 
be ashamed.” (5:2) “Feed the flock of God which is among you”. 

My object in writing this book is to feed God’s lambs. 2 Peter, 1:5. 
“And besides this, giving all diligence, add to your faith, virtue; and to 
virtue, knowledge; and to knowledge, temperance; and to temperance, 
patience; and to patience, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness- 
and to brotherly kindness, charity”. 

Here the same words are repeated that we have had before. 

(19). “We have also a more sure word of prophecy”. Let me say here 
that in olden times, any teacher of righteousness was called a prophet, and 
any righteous writings were called scripture. And Paul said (20): “No 


HE THAT DWELLETH IN HATRED DWELLETH IN THE DEVIL. 


323 


prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation”, (21) “for the 
prophecy came not in olden time by the will of man, but holy men of God 
spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.” 

John 1 :4. “These things write. . . . [ I] unto you, that your joy may be 
full”. (5) “God is light, and in him is no darkness at all”. (6) “If we say 
that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie.” If we 
want to walk in light, we must use our own judgment as to what is right 
and what is wrong. 

(8). ‘ ‘If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth 

is notin us” If we say “Of the two evils we choose the least”, we teach 
the yourd; for there is no person that passes through life without passing 
over some sin; but if we look to the right and to the left, and of the three 
sins choose the least, it leaves our mind washed as clean and as white as 
though there had been no sin whatever. 

Have I chosen the least, 

O Christ, thou doth know. 

Come wash me, and make me, 

Still whiter than snow. 

(2:3). “And hereby we do know that we know Him if we keep His com- 
mandments”. (4). “He that saith, I know Him and keepeth not His com- 
mandments, is a liar and the truth is not in him” 

A church member that swears in their home labor is not a keeping His com- 
mandments. A church member that will inhumanly ill-treat their beast or 
brute, is not a keeping His commandments. A church member that is always 
scolding and a jawing, is not a keeping His commandments, therefore they 
“know Him not.” 

(29). “If ye know that He is righteous, ye know that every one that 
doeth righteousness is born of Him ” (3 :4) ‘ ‘Whosoever committeth sin trans- 
gresseth also the law; for sin is the transgression of the law”. (4:15) “Who- 
soever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and 
he in God” 

If the greatest of infidels would look at Jesus Christ in the true light, 
they must confess that God created all things of matter, as his own, and they 
still remain his own; unchangeable, and the devil has no changing power 
over them: therefore Jesus — the body of matter, must belong to God. As 
God is a great mind, and as the devil is also a great mind; and as God said 
let us make man in our own image, He made the devil a partner, and an 
interest owner to the human mind. And to-day the devil rules and controls 
the human mind more than God does. And as the records show that Jesus 
was conceived by a mother who had a righteous mind, He inherited a right- 
eous mind; and as He was born and raised in righteousness, grew up and 
passed through life unchanged by the power of the devil, the devil had no 
possession or claims to the mind of Jesus whatever. Where can we find a 
living person who can say that the devil had any right, title or interest what- 
ever to the body of matter, or to the divine being of Jesus Christ? If the 


324 


HOW ARE WE LED 2 


devil has neither right, title or interest to either the divine being, or the mortal 
body of Jesus Christ, where can we find a living person that can say any- 
thing different than that Jesus Christ was the true Son of God from his birth. 

4:16. “God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and 
God in him.” 

The devil is hatred and he that dwelleth in hatred dwelleth in the devil, 
and the devil in him. 

18. “ There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear; because 

fear hath torment.” (2:9) “He that saitli that he is in the light, and hateth 
his brother, is in darkness. ” 

A mind of wisdom makes us men, 

Take mind away what are we then, 

We’re nothing but a mortal chump, 

Though breath compels the heart to pump. 

Considering the mind to constitute the man, “Who is my brother? ” 
Because you and I are born of one woman — because you and I are raised in one 
family, yet you possess the mind of God, and I possess the mind of the devil, 
can we be brothers? Can the mind of God and the mind of the devil be 
brothers? The human mind must be either from God or from the devil — 
from one great tree or the other. And again we find those words, (10) “He 
that loveth his brother, abideth in the light.” (“Who is my brother?”) 
(11) “ But he that hateth his brother is in darkness.” (Mark 3:33.) “ Who 

is my mother, or my brethren ” ? (35) “Whosoever shall do the will of God, 
the same is my brother, and my sister, and mother.” We must love the one 
that is brother and sister in mind, rather than brother and sister in flesh. 
When you love the doings , the actions, the ways, the works and the words 
of a person, you must love the mind of that person, whether of your blood, 
your kin, or of an entire stranger: for the mind plots, plans, and executes 
every word and deed that the body brings forth. GOD IS LOVE, but the 

DEVIL is HATRED. 

John, 4: 20. “If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he 
is a liar; for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he 
love God whom he hath not seen ?” 

I say here, that John himself did not know how to love God. If you love 
your brother, you must love his words and his works. Though you may be 
as blind as utter darkness that you cannot tell whether your brother be black 
or white, if the words and works of that brother be pleasant to you, you will 
love him; but if his words and works be all the time annoying to you, you 
cannot love him. Though you have never seen his face, and know nothing 
about his bodily form, you will love or hate him according to his words and 
works, which is the entire essence of his mind. Though you cannot see the 
face and form of God any more than the blind can see their brother, yet if 
you love to use Godly words and commit Godly works; if you love to see 
others use Godly words and commit Godly works ; if you love to teach Godly 
words and works, you must truty love the mind of God that plots and plans 


OUR OWN MIND CONDEMNS US. 


32S 


those Godly words and works, the same as you love the mind of your brother 
that plots and plans his words and works; you must love God as you love 
your brother for the words and works that his mind rules. Had John 
have known how to love God with true love, he could not have written that 
“he that hateth his brother [brother in flesh and blood] hateth God also.” 

I have heard women say that their husband did not like them as they 
used to. And why is it ? It is their words and their works that their hus- 
band learns to dislike. 


CHAPTER XXXI. 

John says that our own mind condemns us. Freedom of the human mind. Jesus 
expounded the Scripture. John says that the tongue is a sword. Who are 
clothed in white? The open door. How many names has the devil? What 
shall we repent of? What constitutes a doctine? What constituted Christ ? 
How does the mothers teach their daughters to deal out hell fire? 

1 John, 3 : 20. “If our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, 
and knoweth all things.” (21) “If our heart condemn us not, then have 
we confidence toward God.” 

If our heart condemn us it is our own judgment that condemns us, and it 
must bo a righteous judgment, and will condemn us when we pass over the 
great guif. 

10. “In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the 
devil: Whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God.” (4: 5.) “They 
are of the .... (devil); therefore speak they of the .... (devil), 
and the .... (devil) heareth them.” (6) “We are of God: he that 
knoweth God heareth us ; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby 
know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error.” (7) “Love is of God.” 
(8) “God is love.” (13) “Hereby know we that .... He (is) in us, 
because He hath given us of His” (mind). (5: 2) “ By this we know that 
we love the children of God when we love God, and keep His command- 
ments. ” (3) ‘ ‘ For this is the love of God that we keep His commandments. ” 

(14) “This is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything 
according to His will he heareth us. ” 

God is a great mind, a mind that is perfectly free to choose for itself, 
and there is no power that can choose for the mind of God. If man is cre- 
ated in the image of God ; man is a great mind, perfectly free to choose for 
itself, and there is no power that can choose for it and yet leave it as God 

created it perfectly free. God Himself cannot take that freedom from man 

and yet that mind be in the image of God — freedom. The devil can take that 
freedom from the mind of man, for the devil is constantly striving to change 
man from the purity in which God created him. 

It is perfectly useless for me to pray to God for the repentance of my 
son knowing that my son is perfectly free to choose for himself, and know- 
ing that he has chosen to serve the devil out from under God’s power. But 


326 


HOW ARE WE LED? 


when my son turns to God, and in righteousness fully submits himself to 
God’s power, then I can pray to God and God can answer my prayers. God 
has created man perfectly free to choose for himself whom he will serve, God 
or the devil, and it is useless for us to pray to God for Him to take man out 
of that freedom in which God has created him and compel him to be a 
Christian. But let us pray to the devil to give up his holt; then let us pray 
to man to choose the right, then we can pray to God, and ‘ 4 if we ask any- 
thing according to His will He heareth us.” It is a hundred thousand fold 
better for us to try to compel our children to practice righteousness (when 
they lay down and kick and scream because they cannot have their way) than 
it is for us to pray to God to compel them to become righteous after we have 
permitted them to grow up unrighteously. It is just as reasonable for us to 
plant a seed in our yard and let it grow up a crooked and bad tree, and then 
pray to God to straighten it after it is grown, as it is for us to let the tree of 
our dear infant’s mind grow up crooked and bad, and then pray to God to 
straighten that tree. 

The only way we can grow their little tree up straight is to compel them, 
with mildness, to obey our commands, obey our companion’s commands and 
to obey their teacher’s commands whilst they are small, then they will obey 
God’s commands when they are grown. 

There is no human being that is perfect; your companion or the teacher 
may sometime punish your child when the child is not deserving, yet the only 
hurts its flesh for a few moments; whilst if you interfere you hurt its little mind 
for all eternity, and the mind is all that there is of man. 

If you never permit the mind of your child to be foolishly deluded it will 
protect its own body as it passes through life; but if your interference hurts 
that mind, that mind must suffer that hurt through all eternity, and the body 
has got to suffer the lack of a righteous mind through all ages of mortal life. 

2 John, 1. 6. “This is love, that we walk after his commandments.” 

Jude, 14. “The Lord cometh with ten thousand of his saints,” (15) 
“ To convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds 
which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which 
ungodly sinners have spoken.” (16) “These are murderers, complainers, 
walking after their own lust, and their mouths speaketh great swelling 
words.” 

Now we have searched the New Testament from the first verse of Matthew 
to the close of Jude’s litter. And with the exception of a very few verses 
the New Testament does not tell us what to do, or what to say, to do right; 
and scripture must embrace a line for us to walk in, to do right things, and 
say right words — to do right. 

So with the exception of those few verses, w r e cannot call the New Testa- 
ment scripture: it never was designed for scripture, but it was written testi- 
fying that Jesus and his apostles expounded the true scriptures that they 
held in their hands the Old Testament, sorting out the civil laws and the tradi- 


OUR OWN JUDGMENT WILD TELL US WHAT IS EIGHT. 


327 


tions of men. And tells us over and over that we should search out and ex- 
pound the very same scripture that they expounded. 

In the records of Jesus Christ, we find that he was a great preacher, yet 
we do not get his sermons ; the^nost important thing. 

Then we turn to the records of the apostles with the same result. Now 
I ask, even though Paul has said it before us, can we say that Jesus came onto 
this earth, and preached so many great sermons, for the benefit of the world, 
and then departed from earth, making a testated will, that we should have 
knowledge that he was such a great teacher and preached such great sermons 
and yet we not get a word of his sermons? Can we call the New Testament 
such a testated will? Or shall we call it testimonials and righteous scripture? 
If we call it testimonials and righteous scripture, does that debar us from 
writing any more righteous scripture? The true meaning of the word scrip- 
ture is, right instructions. We cannot write righteous scripture unless they 
guide us to do right. And our own judgment will always tell us what is 
right with man, woman, child, bird or beast, in the eyes of God, if we will 
read ail righteous teachings and consult our own judgment. 

Now we will turn to the Revelations of John the divine. But let me say 
first, that I have, at different times, aroused to find myself as unconscious of 
my surroundings as though I had been asleep, yet I could look back and 
know that I had been awake and knew what had been going on around me 
as well as what had been going on in my mind. What entered my mind at 
those times were direct inspirations from the one that gave them, not handed 
to me through the agency of some other person. I presume this to have been 
the case with John when those things were revealed to him, so we must call 
them direct inspirations from God. So we will look over his Revelations in 
search of something telling us what we have got to do in order to gain heaven. 

Those things will be inspirations to us from God, but as they come to us 
through some other man’s writings we must call them indirect inspirations, 
yet from the very same God. 

Rev. 1: 10. “I was in the spirit on the Lord’s day, and heard behind 
me a great voice” (11) “saying, I am alpha and omega, the first and the 
last.” (2: 4.) “Nevertheless, I have somewhat against thee, because thou 
hast left thy first love. ” (5) ‘ ‘ Remember therefore from whence thou art 

fallen, and repent, and do the first works.” (11) “He that overcometh shall 
not be hurt of the second death.” (19) “I know thy works, and charity, 
and service,” (23) “and all the churches shall know that I am he winch 
searcheth the reins and hearts : and I will give unto every one of you accord- 
ing to your works.” 

Here in the Revelations we find that we receive our reward in heaven 
according to our w r orks upon earth. 

16. “Recent, or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will fight 
against them with the sword of my mouth.” 

The most cutting sword that was ever used is the sword of the mouth. 


328 


HOW ARE WE RED? 


3: 1. “I know thy works, that thou hast a name, that thou livest, and 
art dead.” 

God knows their works ; that they are spiritually dead to Him, though 
mortally alive and claiming to be Christians. 

2. “Be watchful and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready 
to die; for I have not found thy works perfect before God.” (3) “Bemem 
ber therefore how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast, and repent. 
If, therefore, thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief. ” (4) 

“ They shall walk with me in white: for they are worthy.” (5) “He that 
overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot 
out his name out of the book of life.” 

Every writer of the New Testament tells us that we have something to do 
more than to have faith; we have works to do if we ever gain heaven. 

1 ‘ These things saith he that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the 
key of David.” 

This key is the righteous mind that makes a practice of asking their own 
judgment, “Is this right, or is it wrong ?” and then do what your judgment 
says is right. 

8. “I know thy works: behold, I have set before thee an open door, 
and no man can shut it. ” 

Dear reader, when I put this book before you, I have set before you an 
open door that no man can shut, and by it you can enter therein. 

9. “ Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say 
they are jews, and are not, but do lie.” 

Those are the htpocrits, whether they claim to be Israelites or Chris- 
tians, that are trying to gain heaven on their faith alone, regardless of their 
tongue. 

20. “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: If any man [woman or 
child] hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to them.” 

5: 1. “I saw in the right hand of him that sat on the throne a book 
written within, and on the backside sealed with seven seals.” 

This book is the mind of God, where all things are recorded forevermore. 

12: 9. “The great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the 
devil, and Satan, which deceived the whole world.” 

Here we find that the devil has a number of names, the same as God ; or 
our earthly father. 

17. “ And the dragon .... went to make war with the remnent .... 

which keep the commandments of God.” 

Here it was revealed to J ohn that the devil would stand in the way of 
those wishing to live up to God’s commands: opposing them, and telling them 
that those commands were “abolished, dead, and laid aside.” And the 
devil’s only power is to work through the great machine of our fellow man. 

20: 2. “And he laid holt on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the 
devil .... Satan.” 

Here John gives us four different names for the devil. 


JUDGED ACCORDING TO THEIR WORKS. 


329 


This next verse shows us that every one of us have a book of our own of 
which we are judged from. The great book of life, which is the great mind 
of God, wherein all things are recorded, is not the books , but is the great 
book; whilst we are judged out of the books wherein all our works are 
recorded. It must be that each person’s words and works are recorded in 
the book of their own mind, and by those books we are judged. 

12. “ And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the 

books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: 
and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the 
books, according to their works. ” (13) “And they were judged every man 

according to their works.” (15) “ And whosoever was not found written in 
the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.” (14) “ This is the second 
death.” (22: 14.) “ Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they 

may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates.” 

Now we find the book of Revelations the same as all other books of the 
New Testament. All the instructions that we get from it is that we live up 
to the righteous scriptures found in the Old Testament. Yet some of our 
preachers search the New Testament for faith alone, and tell us that those 
things that the Bible tells us that we shall not do, are inbred sins, natural born 
sins, every-day sins and shortcomings, which are no sin if we have true faith. 

Now, my neighbors call me a moralist. They say that I am not 
a Christian. The}' tell me that a person may be a perfect moral person, 
yet they can never gain heaven unless they are a Christian. Dear reader, 
they are giving me more than I can swallow. If you were to learn a boy to 
chew tobacco, would you cut off more than he could get into his mouth and 
then send him to hell because he could not swallow it? A snake will swallow 
more than it can get into its mouth, but do you want to take pattern after 
a snake ? do you want to gain heaven by imitating a snake ? They 
tell me that I am not a Christian. I say that there is not a preacher 
on the face of the earth that knows what constitutes a Christian. If 
they use their own judgment — if it is a righteous judgment — they can 
judge pretty close to what constitutes a Christian; but, dear reader, you and 
I can do the same. If we use a righteous judgment, we can come as near to 
telling what constitutes a Christian as a preacher can tell; and if our judg- 
ment is as good as theirs, our opinion is as near correct as theirs. 

The mind of Jesus was what constituted Christ. The righteous words, 
deed and actions of Jesus were what proved His mind to be Christ. If your 
mind is in imitation of His mind, your name is in imitation of His name. 
If j^our words, deeds and actions prove your mind to be righteous, as His 
mind was righteous, your words and actions will prove you to be a Christian. 

Jesus was a great preacher, preaching many great sermons — telling us 
what to do and how to do to cultivate our minds so as to make us Christians. 
His sermons was His doctrine ; if we walk in His doctrines we are Christians. 
But we have not got even one of His sermons; no, scarcely a word of one of 
His sermons. Now I ask, who is there that knows what constitutes a Christian? 


330 


HOW ARE WE LED? 


Our preachers tell us to repent, repent. But what shall we repent of ? 
The New Testament tells us to repent; the word is found more than twenty- 
three times in the New Testament, and I ask what shall we repent of ? Do 
I hear some of those preachers say, Y, it is not our place to tell you what to 
repent of ? I say that it is their place to teach us constantly what to repent 
of, and those who are already righteous help the preachers teach the 
unrighteous what they have to repent of. Let the preachers point out those 
sins daily, those who commit those sins take their advice, those that omit 
those sins join the preacher in showing forth their good fruits. Yet do I 
hear the preachers say you ought to know what to repent of. But I say, Y, 
I am a moralist; since I became a moralist I talk just as the true Christians 
talk; since I became a moralist I do just as the true Christians do. Yet you 
tell me to repent, I can never enter heaven until I repent, so I ask, what shall 
I repent of? Again do I hear those preachers say, Y, if we have got to tell 
you what to repent of, we can; you have never joined a church — or you have 
joined the wrong church — repent of that, come over and join our church, 
experience our faith, be baptized with our baptism, then } T ou will be all right 
for heaven. Do I see some of those very preachers go to the house of a 
brethren and insult some of the inmates, and then tell her that that is an 
inbred sin — an every-day sin and shortcoming, and if she has his kind of 
religion — his kind of faith — it is no sin for either him or her ; that she will 
go farther into heaven under that kind of faith than one of true morals; Jesus 
will tell G-od that she is all right, her mind is whiter than snow, if she only 
praises the name of Jesus? 0, such doctrine; but it is actually taught, and 
it is taught to the mothers more than to the fathers, and the mothers are the 
ones that raise our children and they need the true teachings in preference to 
the fathers. 

Dear reader, Jesus came onto this earth and taught us to do right, and 
those preachers can not find one word to show that he taught anything differ- 
ent. Can they be a walking in the doctrine of Jesus when they teach us con- 
trary to his teachings? Righteous judgment tells us that wrong cannot be 
right, and those wrongs are recorded in your own book by which you will be 
judged when you meet Christ in heaven: and you will be judged according to 
your works, and those records cannot be changed after death. 

The Jews had their ways and disciplines, but Jesus stepped out from all 
of thos^ and began to teach all the good morals that was known. In fact, 
He was constantly teaching us something to do that was right, regardless of 
the Jewish discipline; those things must have been good morals. Christianity 
was not known until after Jesus was crucified. I see no possible way of get- 
ting around saying that Jesus was a moralist, teaching the most righteous 
morals that were known. And to-day people walking in righteous morals 
must be a walking in the doctrine of Jesus, at least they are a walking in the 
doctrine of Christ whether in the doctrine of Jesus or not, and their mind is 
robed in white without any church mantle. Their book bears righteous 
record, and they shall be “judged out of their own book according to their 
deeds done in the body. ” 


MORALISTS NEAR TO CHRIST'S TEACHING. 


331 


When we teach the moralists that they are not Christians, we drive the 
truest of Christians into infidelity. When we teach the sinner that they are 
made Christians just through faith, we drive the sinner into hypocrisy. We 
make the Church a stumbling block for the whole world. Children hear their 
parents lie, swear, scold and jaw, simply misuse their bird or beast, and some- 
times see them steal and conceal ; they are their parents’ deceit, and hear them 
pray and ask God’s blessings: Their little righteous mind tells them that this 
is hypocrisy, and they grow into infidelity. And when the preacher is called 
to preach the funeral sermon of such a person, he tells us that that was a 
good Christian and has gone to heaven. 

If we were to find a neighborhood of good moral people; if we were to col- 
lect them together by themselves and teach them that they were Christians, 
we would have a congregation of the most pure Christians ever on earth. We 
rould have a congregation that would be Christians from the bottom of their 
hearts. We would have a congregation that when, without any hope of 
Christian welfare, they would have a desire to do as Jesus taught us to do, 
and after being taught that they were Christians, and joint heirs with Christ, 
their desire to press on would increase daily. 

When we teach the moralists that they are Christians, we are upbuilding 
righteousness as Jesus upbuilt righteousness; but when we teach the sinners 
that they are Christians just because they believe that Jesus Christ was the 
Son of God, and that He died on the cross for the sake of sinners, we are a 
trampling righteousness under foot. 

When they say to you that I conflict with the doctrine of Jesus, let them 
present to you the sermons of Jesus that you may see wherein I conflict. 
Use your own judgment and you shall be judged according to the records of 
your own book, not according to the records of their book. 

When they call me everything but a Christian, they remind me of the 
devil and his hogs when he thought to swindle the government. When the 
government began to clothe their soldiers in woolen, it is said that the devil 
took the contract of furnishing the wool. After he had sheared his sheep he 
looked his hogs over and said: “ They have some wool, but it is coarse, poor 
stuff, but it is good enough for soldiers. ” So he caught his hogs and went 
to shearing them. They squirmed and squealed and made considerable noise. 
After he had finished shearing them he looked at the wool and said : « ‘ They 
made a great cry for so little wool, but it is the great cry that carries the 
day.” So it is, dear reader, with their faith-bound religion. Their inbred 
sins, their natural born sins, their every day sins and shortcomings make 
their religion poor stuff, but it is good enough for their members, and their 
great cry is what carries the day. 

But what about this word repent? I have not written my book to make 
right those that are already true Christians, but to open the eyes of the blind. 
Jesus did the very same thing; His sermons were not preached to “call the 
righteous, but sinners to repentance.” Jesus did not say “repent” to those 
that were already a doing right, but to the sinner. To-day I do not say 
“repent” to the good moralists that are a doing right to the best of their 


gow Ahffi WE LEU ? 


aaj 

judgment: But I say “ repent” to the sinner that has never yet bridled 
his own tongue. But what shall we repent of ? I will tell you what to 
repent of. If you are a good moralist, all the time a trying to do right in 
the eyes of God to the best of your judgment, you have nothing to repent of. 
If you are a fretful, growling, scolding wife, repent of that habit; bridle your 
tongue and make home an agreeable place for your companion and children. 
If you are an overbearing, profane husband, repent of that overbearing pro- 
fanity and make yourself a pleasant companion at home in your every day 
walk; bridle your tongue and help to make your home circle a little heaven 
below. And, dear children, repent of your disobedience, obey your parents 
and teachers, and help to make the home circle perfect,- then you will always 
find sweet entertainment at home. If you are an old bach, or an old maid, 
not apt to have a home of your own, bridle your own tongue, and have 
patience to take from others without answering them, and so conquer many 
devils. 

There is no person that can pass through life without doing some wrong, 
for when you try to go around one wrong you will run into another; but, of 
the two, three, four or more wrongs, choose the least, then, in the eyes of 
God, you have committed no sin in doing such wrong. But the greatest 
wrong that you can do is to wrong home, it is far better to do two, three or 
four wrongs to your neighbors than to do one wrong to your companion. 

Let Christianity grow in the home first, in every-day words and works. 
You will always find sweet entertainment at home where Christianity rules 
the home circle by bridling the mortal tongue. 

Charles Wesley, when on earth, composed a hymn, of which I will quote 
one verse: 

’Twas a heaven below, my Redeemer to know; 

The angels could do nothing more: 

Than to fall at His feet, and the story repeat, 

And the lover of sinners adore. 

Dear reader, it is a heaven below when the little earthly home is made a 
heaven by all the members of the family, and when the wife and mother rules 
queen of those heavenly transactions. And it is a hell upon earth when the 
wife and mother turns to continually deal out the torturing, tormenting hell- 
fire that rolls from the human tongue. 0, do away with those “natural born 
sins, those inbred sins, those every-day sins and shortcomings ;” for sins rule 
in hell, and heaven is without sin. 

We’ve a heaven below, each day in the year; 

My Redeemer doth know that His Father reigns here. 

Hell is all wiped away, the great work is done, 

All was made clean just by bridling the tongue. 

I was once stopping at a place where the wife, the mother, belonged to a 
church. I have heard her a jawing; I have seen her get her Bible, stop her 
jaw to read a chapter in the Bible, kneel down and pray until I thought she 
had prayed a half-hour steady, get up from her prayer and renew her jawing, 


WHAT CONSTITUTES A OHNISTIAN? 


383 


and jaw for the next half-hour; and their brethren curse and swear at any- 
thing that bother them. How can their preacher in preaching their funeral 
sermon tell the little children that such were good Christians, and have gone 
to heaven? 

I once tended church where the preacher would begin his sermon by say- 
ing that it was a task for him to study what to say to his congregation ; then 
he would say, ‘ ‘it is a still greater task for me to study what to omit saying 
for fear of offending someone.” Let me say that it is a preacher’s place to 
continually show us what is right for us to do, and what is wrong, that we 
should omit doing and saying in our common every-day talk and walk. Those 
\Lat are all right truly would not take offence, and those that are not a trying 
to do right ought not to take offence at good advice; though they got offended 
at Jesus for giving good advice, yet He gave it just the same. 

I again met with brother W , the minister of the Campbellite church. 

fn our coversation he told me that none could enter the kingdom of heaven 
except a follower in the doctrine of Jesus — a true Christian. I asked him 
what he would do with those that were already a doing right when Jesus came 
upon earth, those to whom Jesus said, “I have not come to call the rigteous, 
but sinners to repentance”? His answer was, “God provided a way for 
them.” I then asked him, “What constitutes a Lutheran?” He answered, 
“a member of the Lutheran church.” (Third ques.) “If we find a man that 
is an infidel, who wants to marry a girl that belongs to the Lutheran church, 
and her parents say that she shall not marry outside the Lutheran church, if 
that man, for the sake of marrying that girl, puts his name on their class- 
book without changing his belief in the least, is he a perfect Lutheran?” 
(Ans.) “No, he is a hypocrite.” (Ques.) “Then what constitutes a perfect 
Lutheran?” (Ans.) “One who believes and teaches the doctrine of Martin 
Luther.” (Ques.) “What constitutes a Calvinist?” (Ans.) “One who 
believes and teaches the doctrine of Calvin.” (Ques.) “What constitutes 
doctrine?” (Ans.) “The belief and teachings — the ideas taught and preached 
by a person is their doctrine.” (Ques.) “Then what constitutes a Christian?” 
(Ans.) One who believes, teaches and practices the doctrine of Jesus.” 
(Ques.) “Yes; then, when a person teaches us that our inbred sins, natural 
born sins, our every-day sins and shortcomings are no sin to those who have 
the right kind of faith, is he a teaching us the doctrine of Jesus?” (Ans.) 
“No! Our church don’t believe in such doctrine.” (Ques.) “Can you find 
an y where in the doctrine of Jesus where He abanded the seventh day of the 
week from the Sabbath, and kept the first day in the week in its stead?” He 
did not attempt to answer this question. (Ques.) “Is a person a true 
Christian who changes the doctrine of Jesus?” This question, like the other, 
he left unanswered. God said, “Thou shalt have no other Gods before me.” 
(Ques.) “Is it in accordance with the doctrine of Jesus that we shall make 
a God of no other object except the God of heaven — the Father of Christ?” 
(Ans.) “Most assuredly! it is.” (Ques.) “Is it according to the doctrine 
of Jesus that we make a God of the mortal body of Jesus?” Did not He say 
“Why callest me good, there is none good save one, that is God?” (Ques.) 


334 


HOW AKE WE LED? 


“Are we Christians when we practice and teach those things that are contrary 

to the doctrine of Jesus?” Those questions brother W left unanswered: 

And I left them for him — as a preacher — to reflect upon. 

Again I say that I am a Christian; but what constitutes a Christian ? 
The body of Jesus was flesh, blood and bone, the same as the flesh, blood 
and bone of you and I. But what constituted Christ ? there is where the 
Christian comes in. Christ was the mind of God that the body of Jesus pos- 
sessed, to the utmost extent. How did Jesus prove his mind to be Christ ? 
By the words, works and acts that his mortal tongue — mortal body brought 
forth every day in the year, and every hour in the day. And one great point 
of his works, was, not to believe the words of others, but to depend upon his 
own righteous judgment. He read the Old Testament, and pronounced a 
part of it the Scripture — the word of God — the law and the prophets ; and 
the other parts he pronounced the traditions of man. Any person to-day, 
with good judgment, can see that a part of the Old Testament is the law of 
God, and the other part of it is the will and the works of the devil, though 
recorded in the very same book. And Jesus said, “I came not to destroy 
the law [of God] but to fulfill it.” Jesus Christ did not make this remark, 
referring to the evil records found in the Old Testament ; but He was a man 
following after the right mind, trying to use right judgment in all things, 
regardless of what the (so called) religious people of that day had written, or 
were a teaching by word of mouth. 

Now, again I ask what constitutes a Christian ? The true mind of God 
that dwelt in the body of Jesus, to the utmost extent, constituted Christ. 
The true mind of the very same God that dwells in the mortal body of the 
human being to-day — to a less extent, constitutes a Christian. 

As we have not got the sermons of Jesus — as we do not fully know the 
whole doctrine of Jesus, how can we prove ourselves that we are Christians ? 
The only wa } 7 that Jesus proved himself to be Christ, was, by the words, 
works and acts of his constant life, showing themselves to be plotted, planned 
and executed by a right mind — not by a wrong mind. We can prove our- 
selves to be Christians by the constant words, works and acts of our mortal 
life, showing themselves to be plotted, planned and executed by a mind that 
is constantly striving to be right, regardless of what the (so-called) religious 
people of the present day say, or have written. As far as we can see the 
doctrine of Jesus, we can walk in that doctrine ; but beyond that all that we 
can do is to omit words that are w T rong, and say words that are right ; omit 
deeds that are wrong, and do deeds that are right ; which is truly contained 
in the doctrine of Christ. 

Some of our mothers teach their daughters to deal out hellfire to their 
companions. And may I ask, how early do we find those mothers a teaching 
this doctrine ? We will look at some of those mothers teaching their daugh- 
ters whilst they are yet maidens ; yes, earlier than that ; we will look at them in 
their childish school days and still earlier than that; look at them in their 
little toddling steps to their father’s knee ; and still earlier yet than that ; 
clear back to their birth. How can the mother teach the doctrine of hellfire 


THE LESSON OF A SCREAMING CHILD. 


335 


to their little infants ? Some mothers, as soon as their child is born, will let 
her child have its own way in all its stubborn, obstinate way, until the mother 
gets mad ; then she will spank it and lay it away until the mother gets over 
being mad, then she takes up the child and lets it have just what it wanted 
before she spanked it. I say, when you have told your child that it can’t 
have anything, let that saying be true for the time being. If your neighbor 
sticks their nose in, and says. “0, let the child have it,” do not speak to the 
neighbor, but treat her as though you never heard her ; and go on with the 
training of your child ; if your neighbor gives your child what you have told 
the child it can’t have, take it from the child and learn the child to obey your 
own word. It is better to offend your neighbor, or gain the ill will of a dozen 
neighbors, than to spoil the mind of your own child. If you wrong your 
child that is none of your neighbor’s business ; let her train her child as she 
may please ; but it is not often that a mother will wrongfully deny her child, 
if she denies it when she is not mad. But we’ll go on with the common way 
of training a child, and we next find it in a high chair at the table, it sees 
something that it wants ; the mother gives it what it wants and by that 
time it sees something else and that is what it wants ; and that does not suit 
it, but it still wants a different thing ; by this time the mother tells it that it 
cannot have anything more ; then the child will kick and scream for a time, 
then it has gained its own way and the mother will give it what it wants ; 
and the next time it will kick and scream a little harder to carry its point, for 
it begins to learn that the great cry carries the day But by this time it finds 
out that it was not hungry, so it gets down from the table, partaking of noth- 
ing that has been given it, except the lesson. It clings well to the lesson 
that the mother has just given it that her word is of no value. We next see 
the little child on its father’s knee, and if the father tries to subdue its stub- 
bornness and make it act mild and pleasant, the mother will interfere and tell 
him he must not slap her child or he will have two to slap. Again the child 
takes another lesson — that the screaming tongue carries the day. Next we 
look at the child in the school room, and we find its tongue very unpleasant 
to the teacher. The teacher is compelled to punish the child, and we turn to 
hear the mother a giving the teacher a free lecture about that time ; and shn 
explains to the teacher that her child has never been under compulsion, and 
under no circumstances can he bring in his compulsion at this late hour. W e next 
look at the child when a maiden, and we see her a complaining to her mother 

after she has spent a day in company — telling her mother that the teamster 

would not go where she said go ; the mother’s advice is, “don’t go with them 
again, if they can’t go where you want to go ; you can take our team and go 
where you please and come back when you get ready, without any thanks to 
them ; shun them, and have your liberty ; there is nothing like liberty. ” 
Next we find this girl to be a married woman, she is tied to a man for life 
(or a divorce). From her birth her cultivation has been, that when she asked 
for anything she must have it, if it did not come at first the mortal tongue 
would bring it. Now she has a home of her own ; things must come just to hei 
time or hell is to pay; and how can she pay it? From her birth, all the cult* 


336 


HOW ARE WE LED? 


vation that she has had is to resort to the mortal tongue. To-daj^ the only way 
that matters can be settled is to make a little hell upon earth of her own honm 
by dealing out hell fire from the mortal tongue: and the sting from this fire is 
much keener, and draws hell much closer, than any other sting ever felt, and 
is often ended by blows from the fist or from some deadly weapon. Then the 
wife will go away and tell how that the husband struck her with his fist, but 
she does not tell how that she struck him first with the mortal tongue. Then 
all sympathy is bestowed upon the wife; mother and neighbours join in telling 
her that he has violated civil law, and that they would run a knife through 
his heart. Rather than to tell her wherein the mortal tongue is a curse, they 
will encourage her to go ahead and make her home still more disagreeable. 
This very thing is agoing on daily among the church members, so I ask 
what constitutes a Christian? They tell me that a Christian is one that fol- 
lows after the doctrine of Jesus. As this little girl’s mother was a church- 
member, may I ask, has her training from her birth up been in the doctrine of 
Jesus? Christ said, “suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid 
them not, for of such is the kingdom of heaven. ” Did they suffer this little girl 
to come unto Christ, from her birth up? And what is worse, many little 
children are put into a church at eight days old, and taught that they were a 
Christian from their birth, who have been raised in this very way. All that 
constitutes a child is the mind; was her mind reared in the image of Christ? 
If this be Christianity, deliver me from a Christian wife and give me a good 
moral woman. 


CHAPTER XXXII. 

The greatest crime on the face of the earth. Can Jesus Christ lie to God, as 
children lie to their parents here? Listen closely. Read slowly. Think 
seriously. Use your own judgment. 

When our little home is made a hell upon earth, how is satisfaction gained 
by lawing and fining each other? The money that pays the fine and costs 
belongs to both, and comes out of the home provisions. But the funniest 
part of it is, the wife may deal out hell fire to her husband until it gets so 
hot that no human being could refrain from squirming, then if he lays a finger 
on her he has violated civil law ; but which has committed the greatest crime, 
the wife that has struck her companion with hell fire, that stings the soul 
through both present time and all eternity, or the husband that has struck 
his companion with his fist, in return? Let righteous judgment answer. 

A woman may strike her husband with what she may please and nothing 
thought of it, but if the husband strike the wife he is a violator of civil law. 

The dealing out of hell fire is the greatest crime on the face of the earth, 
for its scar stains the human mind just as long as time lasts. All that con- 
stitutes man is the mind, and when the mind is deranged it is insanej whether 


AN EVIL TONGUE IS A CURSE. 


337 


temporary or permanent. The more the mind is driven into insanity in this 
world, the more it will be in hell and torment through all eternity. 

Heaven and hell were created expressly for the human mind, and the 
earlier and the more that we try to cultivate the tree of life in our mind the 
higher we will get into heaven — perfection from God. Insanity is from the 
devil, and is constantly going down, down, down, instead of climbing up. 

Our Bible teaches us that we “shalt have no other gods” save the 
God of Israel. Place the infidel who does not honor God by the side of the 
church member who is constantly receiving hell fire from the human tongue, 
and see which mind is in the greatest torment. Our Bible teaches us that w< * 
‘ ‘shalt not make his image any graven images. ’ ’ Take the man who calls Jesus his 
God, and makes and worships that image, place him by the side of even a 

preacher of the gospel, who is constantly receiving hell fire from the tongue 

of a companion (and it’s hell fire just the same if in a preacher’s house as in 
any other house) ; and which of those endure the greatest torment of the 
mind ? The Bible tells us, ‘ ‘Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy 
God in vain.” Let a man go a cursing and swearing by a church that is filled 
with minds, place a man that is constantly receiving hell fire from the tongue 

of his companion, by the side of all in the church, and you will find more 

annoyance in that one mind, than in all the minds that have heard the law- 
breaker cursing and swearing. Tho Bible says, ‘ ‘Remember the Sabbath day 
to keep it holy.” Place a man that ic constantly receiving hell fire by the 
side of a Sabbath breaker, and see which mind is nearest deranged. Remem- 
ber, derangement of the mind is the works of the devil. Next, it says, 
“Honour thy father and thy mother. ” Place this man by the side of the 
parents that have been dishonoured by their child in any way except from 
his tongue, and see where the bitterness of the mind is there. The Bible 
says, “Thou shalt not kill. ” Take the mind of the man that has been mur- 
dered. “Thou shalt not steal.” Take the mind of the one that has lost by 
theft. “Thou shalt not covet. ” Take the mind of any of those and place 
them by the side of the hell fire receiver and see which mind is the nearest 
deranged. “Thou shalt not commit adultery. ” Take the man that knows that 
his wife is an adulteress, though she treats him with love and kindness other- 
wise, place those men side by side and see which one enjoys themselves the 
best when in company with their wives. 

Among all the crimes that are mentioned in the Bible, and among all the 
crimes that are mentioned in the civil law, there is nothing that equals the fre- 
quent use of hell fire in the home circle. It persuades the innocent into adultery, 
it encourages the foolish in theft and evil doings, it drives the enraged into 
murder, and it wrecks the mind of both the giver and the receiver. The evil 
use of the human tongue is the greatest sin that ever visited the face of the 
earth. It is the root of all crimes ; it is actually hell fire, unnoticed by civil 
law, and permitted to burn, burn, burn, without the least of notice ; 
and the greatest fire that it kindles is in the home circle in every day life. 
Parents use profane and degraded language in the presence of their children, 
and permit their children to use in their home circle such language as they 


338 


HOW ARE WE LED? 


would condemn in public, and nothing thought of it at all. It is an emblem of 
the , burning bush ; it is an everlasting burning fire to the human mind, yet it 
never consumes the soul. 

If our lawmakers would do away with the fining for the use of the fist, 
and make the vile and angry use of the mortal tongue in the home circle and 
daily labour a crime, selecting and pointing out such words as shall be a misde- 
meanor, and the penalty therefor imprisonment not less than twenty-four 
hours for the first offense, giving each companion equal privilege and equal 
penalty regardless of sex. Then the fire could be quenched in its earliest 
stage, and each prosecution would show to the world who kindled the fire. 

If you were to see your house on fire, would you rejoice in the brilliancy 
of its flames until all was consumed, and then look for your household goods? 
No. You would put out the fire in its earliest stage, to save both house and 
goods ; but look for nothing after the fire had run its course. Why not hell 
fire, the same ? put it out in its earliest stage, but look for nothing after the 
fire has run its course ? 

I was once an eye witness to a case where a woman was dealing out this 
hell fire until it got so hot that her husband cound not refrain from squirming. 
He told her that if she did not stop her talk that he would kiss her ; he knew 
that it -would make her more angry to kiss her ; he also knew that there was 
no law to prohibit a man from kissing his own wife, so he caught her and 
began kissing her, and she turned to striking him in the face with her fist, 
until his face and clothes were covered with blood, but he kept on kissing 
until she was tired out and quit her talking. There was but little thought of 
her striking him, but had he have struck her he would have been a violator of 
civil law ; there was but little thought of the language that she gave him. 
Had he have given her such language he would have been an outcast in the 
community. 

At that very time this woman belonged to a church, and was' considered a 
Christian. Now I ask righteous judgment, was she a walking in the doctrine 
of Jesus ? daily making a hell upon earth in her own house. Because she 
believes that Jesus Christ -was the son of God, and died on the cross for the 
sake of sinners, and because she prays to Jesus, sings praises to Jesus, and 
makes Jesus her God, and because she makes Jesus stand between her and 
the great God. When she passes into eternity, will all of those things make 
her mind clearer and whiter than snow ? I would rather have a companion 
of good morals that will make my home a little heaven below, than to have a 
good Christian companion that will make my home a little hell upon earth. 

Man was created superior to woman in some things, but woman was cre- 
ated superior to man in other things, and some of those things are woman 
can give to her child, as an inheritance, her own disposition without thought 
or care of such gift; she can give as an inheritance the disposition of her com- 
panion — or the disposition of others — through excess of love, or through 
extreme hatred and despise of their works and ways. She can plant the seed of 
righteousness or the seed of devilishness in the heart of her child, and she 
can grow it almost ready to bloom before the child comes under the father’* 


GOD IS LOVE. 


339 


care: This no man can do, he is far inferior to woman. She can deal out 
hell fire to her husband, and if he wilfully resists it she can get a divorce, 
here again man is inferior. Woman’s tongue excels that of man’s through- 
out all nations. Woman is female, man is male; nature has so fixed all male 
kind so as to follow after the female, to yield to the desire of female, to love 
to do for the female, here nature has made man inferior to woman, giving 
woman the lead. Nature has so fixed hatred, love, and all carnel desire, to 
range higher in the mind of woman than in that of man, leaving man inferior 
to woman to go either way — to love or to hatred. And the devil, through all 
ages, has so taken the advantage of human nature as to lead man by the flat- 
tery of woman. Satan is force, God is love. When God created the human 
being He gave man force-power over woman, and still to-day man holds that 
power. He gave woman love-power over man, and still to-day woman holds 
that power. “God is love.” Why should I not strive to teach woman that 
the redemption of the world lies in her power? How can I refrain from 
showing woman that hell fire shed from her tongue flames far higher than that 
of man, when nature has given her love-power over man and given man force- 
power over her? “God is love,” and when man and woman turns to God 
God has greater power over woman than he has over man, and woman has 
greater power to influence man than man has to influence woman. The devil 
is hatred, and w r hen man and woman turns to the devil, woman has greater 
power to reject man’s influence than man has to reject woman’s influence. 
Woman is superior. 

In all ages that we have record of the devil has led man by the influence 
of woman. In the da} r s of Adam and Eve woman beguiled man and caused 
him to disobey God’s word. With Isaac, his wife beguiled her own son and 
caused him to defraud his brother to gain his father’s blessing, knowing that 
he was a deceiving his father. The devil defiled Potiphar’s wife that she influ- 
enced her husband to imprison Joseph in his innocence. As for Sampson, man 
could not overpower him until the devil, through the lips of his own wife, 
deceived him. The devil, through the wife and daughter of Herod, caused 
Herod to behead John the Baptist, though it grieved Herod to do so. 

Jesus said, “I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repent- 
ance.” I repeat His very words: I do not write to call the righteous, but 
sinners to repentance. Jesus knew that there were good people on the earth 
before He ever preached a word, and He knew there were wicked people also, 
yet He preached to the good and the wicked all alike, or rather He preached 
repentance to the wicked in the presence of the good, not meaning that the 
good must repent. I know that we have good people to-day as well as wicked 
people, though I write to the wicked expecting the good to read it, yet when 
I ask the wicked to repent I don’t ask the good to repent of the same thing. 
I accuse none of doing wrong, but I point out those things and you read 
them ; if you are accused it is your own mind that accuses you ; it is your own 
mind that knows what you do. 

But how shall we repent of the evil that we have done? It is not neces- 
sary for us to sit down and mourn over the wrongs that we have done, that 


340 


HOW ARE WE LED? 


has passed by and out of our reach. The true meaning of the word “repent” 
is quit; repent does not mean feel bad over what you have done, but to quit 
doing it. True repenting is, forever quitting. One that has truly repented 
of a deed never does that deed thereafter. To repent of that evil is to be 
determined never to do again the wrong that we have done and is out of 
our reach; let it go, but when it comes around again, then is the time to show 
your repentance by passing by it this time through determination that you 
will not repeat what you have done. 

Now they tell me that woman feels mean when she is a carrying, and that 
makes them worse. To this I say yes, and this is the very time to teach 
women Christianity, when they don’t feel good. If a woman can live a Chris- 
tian life when she feels mean, she can truly live a Christian life when she feels 
good ; if a woman can live a Christian life in her every day affairs at home, 
she can surely live it when in company ; and what is more, if a woman can 
live a true Christian life (Christ is love, god is love), if she can live a Chris- 
tian life when she is a carrying, she can give as an inheritance to her offsprings, 
the birth mark of Jesus Christ — a mild, pleasant, kind and loving disposition. 
I again met Brother W — at Brother Griesel’s. Brother Griesel is an old 
friend of mine, and a member of the (so-called) Christian church. In m} r conver- 
sation with Brother W. , he told me that ‘ ‘anything hewer than the New Tes- 
tament is outside of the doctrine of Jesus Christ, and is not Christianity.” 
He had previously told me that “nothing but Christianity could enter into 
heaven.” But when he told me that anything newer than the New Testa- 
ment was outside of the doctrine of Jesus, I asked him, “What is the doc- 
trine of Jesus ?” He answered, “The New Testament.” Brother G. took 
sides with Brother W. , and said, ‘ ‘ The doctrine of Jesus is given in his ser- 
mons.” As I had already searched the New Testament for Jesus’ sermons, 
I left them in the dark as to that, and asked, “What are Jesus’ sermons ?” 
Then they said. “Jesus left His apostles to teach His doctrine ; His doctrine 
was found in the apostle’s sermons. I said, “Very good, we believe that 
those apostles were great preachers, and Paul once preached all night long, 
but what was his sermon ? What was the sermon of any of the apostles ? 
What was the doctrine of Jesus as given in their sermons ?” They could not 
answer, nor did not try to answer those questions. The fact is, many of our 
teachers have never yet taken a thought that the New Testament is not filled 
with sermons. 

I asked them “ Don’t you believe that Jesus was constantly preaching and 
teaching the people to do right ? (Ans.) “Yes. ” (Ques ) If we are con- 
stantly teaching the people to do right, are we outside the doctrine of Christ, 
even though the righteous thing that we are a trying to teach is not particularly 
spoken of in the New Testament ? They did not answer this question, but 
Brother W. got up and started for home, thus closing our conversation. 

When I am a teaching 3 f ou that a true Christian will try to make a 
heaven below in their own home, regardless of church or creed, I am teach- 
ing you what is not found in the New Testament. Yet any person that will 
teach you that such is outside of the doctrine of Jesus and cannot enter the 


ALWAYS USE YOUR OWN JUDGMENT. 


341 


kingdom of heaven, they are the blind leading the blind, for there is no living 
soul that knows the doctrine of Jesus. 

John's revelations were written in the year ninety-six, sixty-three years 
after Jesus was crucified ; and any person teaching you that anything found 
later than those writings is not Christianity, they are virtually taking sides 
with the little creed (though they may not know or think there is such a 
creed), that tells us that our every day sins and shortcomings” are no sins to 
the believer. Every person that teaches you that those things are outside of 
the doctrine of Jesus, because they are outside of the New Testament, they 
are virtually taking sides with the little book that tells us that the mortal 
body of Jesus is our great high priest, and that every word, act and deed of 
ours must pass through His lips before they can reach the great God of heaven, 
and that Jesus keeps back from God such as he may choose. Not a word, 
act or deed that Jesus sees fit to keep from God ever reaches God’s eye or 
ear ; and not a word or deed that Jesus sees fit to present to God can escape 
His eye or ear. They are taking sides with the little book that tells you that 
if you have the right kind of faith that Jesus Christ was the true son of God, 
and that He died on the cross for the sinner, your sins are perfectly hid from 
God, but if you have not that right kind of faith, your sins are presented to 
God in their darkest stains. 

Dear reader, do not believe one word of my writings just because I have 
written it, neither believe one word that they write or preach just because 
they are preachers ; but, listen closely, read slowly, think seriously, and 
always use your own judgment ; remembering that no moral word or work 
can be excluded from the doctrine of Christ, and remembering that no im- 
moral word or work can be included in the doctrine of Christ. 


CHAPTER XXXIII. 

Searching the Old Testament for moral people. What is wrong and what is a 
greater wrong: “of the two evils choose ye the least”? What constitutes a 
Bible ? 

We have just searched the New Testament to find the doctrine of Jesus — 
what He taught us to do to become a righteous people — and we find that His 
apostles only recorded His parables and His miracles, leaving His teachings, 
His sermons, His doctrine unrecorded. Therefore, we know not all that He 
told us to do, and all that we can do is to use our own judgment as to what 
is right and what is wrong. 

Now we will search the Old Testament to see what Moses and the prophets 
told us to do to become a righteous people. And as we pass through the 
Old Testament I will call attention to two different points of view aside from 
those teachings: First, we will notice many moral people, both men and 
women. Second, they were not called moral people in those days, for the 
reason that that word was not in use then, or at least I fail to find it in the 


HOW ARE WE LED? 


& 

Bible. They were called righteous men and women, just men and women, 
Godly (God-like) men and women, which means the same thing. Webster 
says, “moral: the- quality of an action which renders it good.” Webster 
further says: “All crimes are immoralities, but crime expresses more than 
immorality.” To-day we say that “such a man or such a woman are good 

moral people; Mr. ’s whole family are good moral folks;” yet we do not 

mean that they are Christians, but I say that a good moral person is a Chris- 
tian. Mr. is of bad morals, he is not a Christian. In reality a good 

moral person is one possessed of God-like thoughts, God-like acts, God-like 
words and God-like teachings, and in the Old Testament we will find the 
records of just such people, both men and women. But before we look foi 

those moral people I will say that brother W made me a visit to-day, 

and I improved the chance of getting his opinion on the definition of tin, 
word “moral” by asking the following questions and receiving his answers 

Ques. “What is immorality?” 

Ans. “Immorality is wrong doings.” 

Ques. “What is morality?” 

Ans. “Morality is right doings; a person that tries to do right ih a\> 
things is a moral person, and a person that practices doing wrong 1 % air. 
imrrcral person. ” 

Ques. “What is unrighteousness?” 

Ans. “Unrighteousness is wrong doings.” 

Ques. ‘ What is righteousness?” 

Ans. “Kighteousness is to do right, the same as morality; airy person 
that does right in all things is a righteous person, whilst any person that 
practices doing wrong is an unrighteous person. Morality and righteousness 
is all one thing.” 

Brother W and I have the same opinion, that moranyy and righteous- 

ness is all one thing. 

Ques. “Is God a moral being?” 

Ans. “Y, yes! God is more than moral !” 

Ques. “Was Jesus a moral man?” 

Ans. “Y, Jesus, the same as God, Jesus was more than moral.” 

Dear reader, this preacher’s judgment is that both God and Jesus Christ 
were more than moral, whilst my judgment is if wrong words and deeds are 
unrighteousness — are immoralities; if right acts and doings are righteousness — 
is morality. If God and Jesus Christ were right, they were no more than 
right; if they were moral, they were no more tnan moral. We know there is 
“good,” “better,” and “best,” and when 1 do right in all things I am a good 
moral man, yet Jesus was a better moral man, whilst God is the best moral 
being of all ; yet, it is impossible to be anything more than moral. I esteem 
God more moral than the Bible does, because I say that ‘ ‘God is love. ” 
“Satan is wrath.” The Bible says, “God shall cast the fury of his wrath 
upon him.” I disagree with the Bible. I say that “God is love,” God 
casteth forth love; the devil is wrath, and the devil “shall cast the fury of 


SEARCH THE HOTA' SCRIPTURES. 


34S 


his wrath upon him.*’ God and the devil both work, God doing good and the 
devil doing evil; but the Bible places all on the shoulders of God. 

I disagree with the Bible, but wherein does this disagreement touch what 
we shall do, or what we shall not do, to become righteous? 

Now, I have placed this preacher’s judgment and my judgment (as to God 
or Jesus Christ being more than moral) before you, asking you to think seri- 
ously, and use your own judgment, whilst we search the Holy Bible for the 
records of good moral men and women. If right words, right teachings, 
right doings are just, are righteous, are moral doings, I shall look for just 
people — righteous people — as moral people, whether they were church mem- 
bers or not. The Israelite nation were the only people that ever had a church 
before the records of Jesus that we have any record of. They did not claim 
it to be a church, but they were an assembled body and had a house to wor- 
ship in, so they constituted a church under the old name “tabinicle,” and it 
received the new name “church” about the time that all other religious doings 
received their new name. I consider the people that belonged to the Israelite 
congregation church members, yet I shall look for good moral people outside 
of that church. 

I catl the careful attention of my readers that I will quote a few passages of 
Scripture, changing or substituting the words “Godly,” “Godliness,” “just,” 
“righteous,” righteousness,” and “righteously” to the words “moral,// 
“morality” and “moralist,” leaving my readers to take the Bible, examine 
the passages which I quote, and condemn me or commend me as their judg- 
ment deemeth right. I will begin with the “blood of moral *Abel. ” 
(Matt. 23:35.) (Heb. 11:4.) “By faith Abel .... obtained witness that 
he was moral.” (1 John, 3:12.) “Cain.... was of that wicked one.... 

because his own wqrks were immoral, and his brother’s moral.” The Bible 
teaches us that the mind of Cain was from the devil because his works were 
immoral, but the mind of Abel w r as from God because his works were moral. 
The mortal body of both were of one blood. 

1 Kings, 2:32. “The Lord shall return his blood upon his own head, 
who fell upon two men more moral and better than he.” (Job 11:4.) “The 
moral upright man is laughed to scorn.” (Psalms 32: 6.) “Shall every one 
that is moral pray.” (34:21.) “They that hate the moralist shall be 
desolate.” (37:17.) “The Lord upholdeth the moralist.” (21.) “The 
moralist sheweth mercy. ” (30.) “The mouth of the moralist speaketh wis- 

dom.” (39.) (And) “the salvation of the moralist is of the Lord.” 
(58: 11.) “So that a man shall say, verily there is a reward for the 
moralist.” (97: 11.) Light is sown for the moralist.” (146: 8.) “The Lord 
loveth the moralist.” (When we search God’s word with a true moral heart 
we learn that the Lord loveth the moralist.) (Prov. 12: 26.) “The moralist 
is more excellent than his neighbor.” (15: 28.) “The heart of the moralist 
studieth to answer: but the mouth of the wicked poureth out evil things.” 
(29.) “The Lord. . . . heareth the prayer of the moralist.” (18: 10.) “The 
name of the Lord is a strong tower, the moralist runneth into it, and is safe.” 


HOW AKE WH LED? 


344 

(28: 10.) “Whoso causeth the moralist to go astray in any evil way, he shall 
fall himself into his own pit.” (Jere. 20: 12.) “0 Lord of hosts, that 

triest the moralist.” 

When we see, as brother W said, that right means moral, the same 

as righteous, or just; when we see that wrong means immoral, the same as 
unrighteous — unjust — we see that the Old Testament speaks highly of the 
moralist. Now we will turn to the New Testament and see what Jesus said 
of them. 

Mark, 2: 17, and Luke, 5: 32. “I came not to call the moralist but sin- 
ners to repentance.” 

What did they say about Jesus after they had crucified him? (23: 47.) 
“Certainly this was a moral man.” And what does the apostles say? 
(2 Thes., 1:5.) “Which is a manifest token of the moral judgment of God.” 
(6 ) “Seeing it is a moral thing with God to recompense.” 1 Peter, 3: 12.) 
‘ ‘For the eyes of the Lord are over the moralist, and his ears are opened unto 
their prayers: but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil.” 
(1 John, 3:7.) “Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth 
morally is moral. ” This verse was written for every person on earth./ “Let 
no man deceive you: he that doeth morally is” a right talker — a right doer — 
a Christian. (2 Cor., 7: 9.) “Ye were made sorry after a moral manner,” 
(10) “for moral sorrow worketh repentance.” (1 Tim. 2: 2.) “Lead a 
quiet and peaceable life in all morality,” (10) “which becometh women pro- 
fessing Christianity.” (3:16.) “Without controversy great is the mystery 
of morality.” (4: 7.) “Exercise thyself rather unto moralism.” (8.) 
“Moralism is profitable unto all things.” (6: 3.) “If any man teach other- 
wise. . . .(than) to the doctrine which is according to moralism,” (4) “he is 
proud, knowing nothing, but doting about questions and strifes of words, 
whereof cometh envy, strife, railings, evil surmisings,” (5) “perverse dis- 
putings of men of corrupt minds, and destitute, of the truth, supposing that 
gain is morality: from such withdraw thyself .” (6.) “Moralism with con- 

tentment is great gain,” (Titus (2:12.) ‘ ‘denying immorality and worldy lusts, 
we should live soberly. . . .and morally in this present world:” (3 John, 6.) 
“After a moral sort.” 

Any person claiming that I have substituted a wrong word must deny that 
wrong words and wrong work are immorality; they must deny that right 
words and right works are morality, And they must remember that the only 
way those people had of showing that they were righteous people, that they 
were just people, that they were Godly people, was by their moral words and 
their moral works. And they ought to remember that the Bible tells us 
many times God is righteous, meaning that He does right. Of Jesus, the New 
Testament tells us that He was a righteous man, but not once does the Bible 
tell us that they were more than righteous; and when they tell us that God or 
Jesus Christ are more than moral, their teachings are newer than the New 
Testament, that “can’t be Christianity.” 


WHICH IS TRUE CHRISTIANITY? 


345 


To become a true moralist we must practice talking and doing right, right 
to man, woman, child, beast and bird, as far as mortal power will permit. It 
is wrong to whip a child, but it is a greater wrong to let the child go whithout 
a whipping so as to permit the mind to enter into corruption to its own injury ; 
so of the 1 ‘two wrongs choose ye the least”: whip the child without anger, and 
so show true morality. It is wrong to whip a horse, but it is a greater wrong 
to let the horse know that he is master over his driver; so of the “two wrongs 
choose ye the least,” and whip the horse without anger, and so show true 
morality. It is wrong to dehorn a cow, but it is a greater wrong to let the 
< ow wear her horns to your detriment; and of the two wrongs choose the 
least, without anger; and so show true morality. There are thousands of 
wrongs that could be pointed out to you, that if we omit doing them we run 
into some greater wrong, and your own judgment must point them out as they 
come along: If you do them without anger, to avoid some other wrong, you 
are truly a moral person. The man or woman that cannot whip a child or 
beast unless they are angry is outside of moralization. Moralization is fine, 
when sifted. No person can pass the years of maturity without wrong. It 
is wrong to plant your field or your garden and then let your fowls or your 
beast, or those of your neighbor, destroy the crop, whilst you or your family 
go without your earnings; it is also wrong to kill those fowls or beasts. 
Those wrongs could both be avoided by the owner shutting up his fowls or 
beasts; but when the owner will not shut up his beast, some wrong must be 
endured. It is wrong to hang a person, but it is a greater wrong to permit a 
murderer to live; those wrongs could both be avoided by the mother’s power 
in their infancy, but when she fails to exercise her power some wrong must 
be resorted to to protect morality, which is true Christainity. The truest of 
moralists will look the farthest ahead to search out of the different wrongs, 
those which are the least. 

We turn again to the Bible to search a little further for moral people, and 
we find Abel to be a man of good morals, though not a church member. 
Churches were not known in his day. We also find Noah to be a moral man. 
Abraham, Sarai, Isaac, Jacob, Bachel, Joseph and others were moral people, 
yet outside of any church. ‘ ‘There was a man in the land of Urz” [this land 
was outside of the Jewish church or dominion; it was in the land of the East], 
“and that man was perfect and moral” (Job 1:1.) (2 Chro. 29:34.) “The 
Levites were more moral * * * than the priests.” (Prov. 10:20) “The 

tongue of the moralist is as choice silver; the heart of the wicked is little 
worth.” (Zech. 9:9.) “Behold thy King cometh unto thee: He is moral, and 
having salvation. ” (Matt. 1:19.) “Joseph her husband being a moral man.” 
Jesus was a moral* man, born and raised in the church by Mary — His moth- 
er — a true moral woman; and by Joseph her husband — a moral man: The 
name Christianity was not yet adopted. But when Jesus was grown up, He 
stepped outside of that church and began to teach true moralism. When 
Jesus was arrested Pilate’s (27 :19) “wife sent unto him saying, Have thou 
nothing to do with that moral man. ” (24) “When Pilate saw that he could 


HOW ARE WE LED? 


«*46 

prevail nothing * * * he took water and washed his hands * * * 

saying, I am innocent of the blood of this moral person. ’ My readers must 
remember that I have not found the word ‘ ‘moral’* in the Bible, and where I 
have quoted it I have substituted it for the words righteous, righteousness, 
etc., for no person can be immoral whose words and works are right. 

In some places in the Bible, those words that I have interpreted to the 
word moral have more bearing than they have in other places. Just so with 
our present word “moral;’* in some places it has more bearing than it has in 
others. 

I will quote one more verse from the Bible, making this change. (Prov. 
24:24.) “He that saith unto the wicked, thou art moral; him shall the people 
curse.” 

Have I told the wicked that they were moral? No, but I have said that 
the man or woman that cannot whip a child or a beast, without anger , is out- 
side of moralization. 

Will the people curse me for what I have written? or will they read, re- 
flect, and use their own judgment? 

By learning that the word moral means right, not wrong; the word moral 
means just, not unjust; the word moral means righteous, not unrighteous; 
the word moral means Godly, not ungodly: by learning that the word moral 
means upright, not tricky, we learn that there is not, there never was, 
there never will be an immoral person, who, at the same time, can be an up- 
right person, a just person, a righteous person, or a Christian. Shun all if 
you can, but if you can’t shun all, “of the two or more evils, choose ye the 
least,” and so be a Christian. 

What is the true meaning of the word Christ? 

When you speak the word Christ with the truest meaning you do not mean 
that man that was on earth nineteen hundred j^ears ago. But the word in its 
pure meaning is a mind that is pure, not polute; a mind that is right , not 
wrong; a mind that is just , not unjust; a mind that is righteous not un- 
righteous-, and such is the mind of God. The mind of the devil is far from 
it. Such was the mind of jesus, which was called Christ. If you want to 
be called Christ-ian, imitate his mind. Have that mind in your own body, 
and that Christ will guide you on the way to heaven. 

We have but few words of the sermons of Jesus to show us what his doctrine 
was. How shall we learn the doctrine of Christ? 

The true doctrine of Christ was, for the tongue to talk right, not wrong; 
for the mortal body to work right, not wrong; and as the tongue and all 
other members of the body are governed by the mind, the mind must be 
right, not wrong. Good moral judgment, if used out of anger, will tell us 
what is right, not wrong. Good moral judgment will teach us the doctrine 
of Christ. 

When I began to want to be a Christian — when I began to want to take a 
part in righteous work — I began to study the Bible by reading slowly, stop- 
ping often, thinking seriously, and using my own judgment. I studied o* 


WHAT CONSTITUTES A BIBLE? 


347 


right and wrong regardless of faith or doctrine. I attended their class-meet- 
ings, and would express my views as I thought was right. Preachers, breth- 
ren, neighbors and companion unitedly joined against me, and said that I was 
of more damage to the church than I was of benefit. Their unpleasantness 
caused me to take a back seat. I saw them paying in their money to carry 
on Christian work, I read of different ones willing sums of money to different 
churches, and I felt as though I wanted to do my part in helping righteous- 
ness extended wider. But when I saw things that were wrong, and when I 
was denied the privilege of expressing my views, I didn’t feel like giving 
them my money. It was then that I began to think that if I could not talk, 
I could write, and it was then that my neighbors began to say that I was 
writing a new Bible. My wife’s grandfather, a man over ninety-four years 
of age, was the first to ask me to let him read my new Bible. 

Dear reader, they do not know what constitutes a Bible; neither do they 
know how to understand the Bible that they have got. Bible and righteous 
scripture may differ; any righteous writings are scripture, whether found be- 
tween the lids of the Bible or outside of the Bible: also any foul, deluding 
writings are secular, let it be found between the lids of the Bible or not. God 
inspires the holy scriptures, regardless of the book that they are found in; 
and the devil inspires all secular profanity, regardless of where it is found. 
There is hoty scripture found that is not between the lids of the Bible, that 
was written before the New Testament was written, and there is holy scrip- 
ture found that has been written since the New Testament was written, and 
there are profane secular writings found between the lids of the Bible. 

Then what is it that constitutes a Bible? 

We understand that different countries have different Bibles; we under- 
stand that the Catholic church has a different Bible from what the protestant 
churches have. Then what constitutes a Bible? It is impossible for any 
person to write a Bible. A person can write holy scripture, but they cannot 
write a Bible. 

Then how did we get our Bible? 

When Constantine became a Christian, his nation was in paganism. He, 
to bring his country out of paganism, made new' laws and framed a new con- 
stitution of government; and he took such ancient writings as he deemed 
best, placed them in his book, called them his Bible, and made them the chief 
cornerstone of his national constitution, as well as the chief cornerstone of 
his church. 

King James also took such ancient writings as he deemed best, put them 
into a book, and called them his Bible, also making it the chief cornerstone 
of his church and of his national constitution, thus making it his national 
Bible. It is said that those Bibles differ a little in their writings, but wheth- 
er they do or not, we know that there is holy scripture in our Bible ; we also 
know that there is secular writings in it. 

Any person can write scripture, but it takes the rulers of church and na- 
tion to make it Bible, after it is written. 


*48 


HOW ARE WE LED? 


As I understand it, George Washington took those books and made them 
the chief cornerstone of our national constitution, giving no church the 
preference ; therefore it leaves the protestants to hold King J ames’ version 
as their Bible, and the Catholics to hold Constantine’s version as their Bible, 
whilst the infidel has no Bible whatever, whilst any person that takes holy 
scripture, and follows its good advice, they are Christians, regardless of what 
their neighbors say. 

In early days, with God there were but two classes of people: the religious 
people, who were God’s children, and the wicked people, which were the 
children of the devil. Today, with God there are two classes of people just 
the same: God’s children, and the devil’s children. 

In olden times, God’s children were called just people, righteous people, 
Godly people, or Israelites; whilst the devil’s children were called Pagan peo- 
ple, Gentile people, heathen people, or the sinner. Any of those last named 
included all people that were not Israelites. Today, God’s children are called 
the Christian, the Israelite, the righteous, or religious people, whilst the 
devil’s children are called the sinner, the wicked, the ungodly, or the heathen. 
Any of those last named include all people except the children of God. 

In the Israelitic days the devil’s children were mixed in with the children 
of God. And today we find the sinner, the heathen, the wicked, the un- 
godly people mixed in with the religious people just the same. We call them 
the children of God, or the children of man, but the spirit must be from the 
one great tree, or the other — from God, or from the devil. We must be 
children of God, or children of the devil; we must be Christian, or heathen. 

Now, some are asking me, why do I put my money into this book? Why 
do I not put my money into my own home and make that a heaven below, as 
I am advising others to do? To this I say, I have no home of my own; the 
human tongue has robbed me of both home and companion; it has also 
robbed many others of home and companion. Why not show to the world 
that it is the human tongue that does the evil work. In reading the book of 
Job we learn that when he fared sumptuously he had many friends, but when 
affliction came his friends turned against him, and after friends and compan- 
ion had given him evil counsel, he said : ‘ ‘They that dwell in mine house 
* * * count me as a stranger: I am an alien in their sight, ” “my 
breath is strange to my wife.” “But He (God) knoweth the way that I take; 
when He hath tried me, 1 shall come forth as gold.” 

I put my money in my home for many years, but it takes more than 
money to make home a little heaven below. Jesus said, “love thy neighbor 
as thyself:” but Jesus was a single man; He did not pass through the exper- 
ience of married life; His truest friends were his neighbors. I say, let love 
begin at home first; “love thy companion as thyself.” Our teachings are: 
“Ho no evil.” My teachings are : “When you are compelled to do wrong, 
that you look at the different wrongs in coolness, and ‘of the wrongs that arc 
before you, choose ye the least.’ ” There is no person passes the years of 
maturity that can evade wrong at all times. Love your companion better 


BE NOT ASHAMED OF CHRIST. 


349 


than your neighbor; “love thy companion as thyself,” and let your neighbor 
come second, and so make a little heaven below at home. 

There is always some one ready to talk, let you do what you may. King 
David said, “Their tongues deviseth mischief * * * working deceitfully,” 

they ‘ ‘lovest evil more than good ; and lying rather than to speak righteously 
* * * lovest all devouring words, 0 thou deceitful tongue.” But I say 

that Christ is love, and the couple that the sister said acted perfectly silly 
between themselves, their actions were tokens of Christ at home, in their own 
bosom. Be not ashamed of Christ in your own bosom, especially for your 
companion. He or she that is ashamed to show that Christ sheds love in 
their bosom, Christ will be ashamed to meet them in heaven. 

CHAPTER XXXIY. 

Conversation Between Christ and the Church. The Beauty of Woman. Woman 

Superior to Man. Why Are All Human Being's Called Man? A Man-Made 

Preacher in the Bible. Raise Your Children in a Way That They Should. Go. 

It is Works That Man Must Perform 

Man has formed an idea that the Song of Solomon is a conversation 
between Christ and the Church, and they have placed their ideas at the head 
of the chapters. I have the same right to study upon this book ; I will not 
place my views at the head of the chapters, but place them in a separate 
book and hand it to the world to reflect upon. 

In reading this book, “The Song of Solomon,” we find that whether it be 
Christ talking with the Church, or whether it be Solomon really talking with 
some fair maiden, lie, three different time, in those chapters, remarks to her: 
“0 thou fairest among women.” We will suppose it to be Christ a- talking 
to the Church, and we will look at the beauty of our churches of the present 
day and see if that beauty is more than skin deep. Then we will suppose it 
to have been Solomon a-talking in reality to his beloved, and we will look at 
her with the same eye with which we look at the Church. 

If the opinion of man is right, that the words of this book were the 
words of Christ a-talking to the Church, it must be that I am right in saying 
that Christ is the mind of God and dwelt in the body of man before the body 
of Jesus was born. It must be that Christ talked through the lips of man 
before the lips of Jesus had motion, and, if those things be true, certainly 
Christ dwells in the body of man today the same as He did before the birth 
of Jesus. He influences the human mind the same today as He did before 
Jesus was born. He must talk through the mortal lips today the same as 
ever. And the devil is ditto in all. God has never withdrawn Himself, His 
power, nor His willingness from the human being, but man, woman and child 
have withdrawn themselves from God. 

But if the words of Solomon’s song be the words of Christ to His Church, 
today we have many churches, to-day we have many women — which one is 
Christ’s beloved? Which one is the fairest among them all, and which one’s 


850 


HOW ARE WE LED? 


fairness is more than skin deep? Is it the fairness — is it the beauty of the 
building that Christ adoreth, or is it the righteousness of the members of the 
church? Righteousness means right words and right works. Is the beauty 
of Christ’s church in the dress and appearance while at that church, or is it 
the appearance of the members in their daily words and works? Where is 
the beauty that Christ so much loves? If the fairness of Christ’s beloved is 
in the every-day words and works of the members, they are truly the ‘ ‘fairest 
among women.” But if the fairness is in the dress and appearance while at 
church, that fairness truly is only skin deep. If that fairness is in the every- 
day walk, Christ must have been talking to each individual regardless of 
church, for we find good people in all churches. What did this same Solo- 
mon say in the book of Proverbs? (15:16) “Better is little with the fear of 
the Lord than great treasures and trouble therewith.” (17) “Better is a 
dinner of herbs where love is than a stalled ox and hatred therewith.” 
(16:8) “Better is a little with righteousness than great revenues without 
right.” (17:1) “Better is a dry morsel and quietness therewith than a 
house full of sacrifice with strife.” (19:1) “Better is the poor that walk in 
his integrity than he that is perverse in lips and is a fool.” Where are those 
things found that Solomon has named over? Are they found in the church 
or in the little home? If found in the home, Solomon said, let love, right- 
eousness and quietness be found there with them. The Old Testament tells 
us to live a Christian life at home, but if you can’t live a Christian life at 
home, (21:19) “it is better to dwell in the wilderness than with a contentious 
and angry woman. ” (9) ‘ ‘It is better to dwell in a corner of the housetop 

than with a brawling woman.” 

The Old Testament tells us that we have something to do on our part to 
live a Christian life. 

The New Testament tells us that Jesus was a great preacher, preaching 
many great sermons ; that He drank freely of the great mind of God, called 
Christ; that He did many great miracles, told us many parables, and that He 
sought loneliness in the mountain, apart from both brawling men and women. 
But the sermons wherein He told us that we had a work to do in order to 
walk in His doctrine are not recorded, only that He opened the Old Testa- 
ment and expounded the Scriptures, and told us that it was God’s word, and 
that His Christ was God, so it was His word and His commands and for U 3 to 
obey them. Then our preachers imitate Him by standing in the pulpit as He 
stood, by holding the Old Testament in their hands as He held it, but not by 
telling us to expound its contents as He had expounded them. No! On the 
contrary they tell us that it is annulled, abolished, dead and laid aside, just 
because the devil and his little imps crucified Jesus for explaining the true- 
ness of the Old Testament. Oh, such religion! 

They will hold up the New Testament and tell us that that is all that we 
need to study or peruse over. I earnestly ask every person on the face of the 
earth to carefully read over and over the contents of the New Testament, from 
cover to cover, and point out the doctrine of Jesus, anything further than He 


Solomon’s words consoled me. 


351 


teaches us to live up to the commands of the Old Testament. Let them tell 
us that the foul writings found in the Bible are records of the works of the 
devil, and the righteous writings are from God; then I would say amen. 

When I began to think that I wanted to live a Christian life I began to 
study the Bible; I began to reflect upon what to do and hcvf to do to become 
a Christian, and the things inspired into my mind I wanted to tell to my 
brethren. But on being denied that privilege, w r hat could I do but turn to 
the Old Testament to search for instruction? And again Solomon’s words 
consoled me. (21:23) “Whoso keepeth his mouth and his tougue keepeth 
his soul from troubles.” (17 :28) “Even a fool, when he holdeth his peace, 
is counted wise, and he that shutteth his lips is esteemed a man of under- 
standing.” Then I ceased to talk or take part in their class-meetings and 
took up my pen. And (22:20) “have not I written to thee excellent things 
in counsels and knowledge,” (21) “that I might make thee know the certainty 
of the words of truth?” 

But I said that, after looking at the beauty of the church, we would look 
at the beauty of woman. 

Let us go to church, and there look upon the handsomest woman on the 
face of the earth — whose face cannot be excelled for whiteness, whose hair 
cannot be excelled in crimping, and whose form cannot be excelled in dress; 
whose eyes could not be more sparkling, and whose tongue could not be more 
pliable. Who could not use the words of Solomon? “0 thou fairest among 
women!” 

But when man takes this woman as a companion and steps into every-day 
life with her, he finds that her face was only painted, which easily washes off; 
he finds that her hair is by nature straight, and he finds that “it is better to 
dwell in the wilderness than with a contentious and angry woman.” Is 
woman’s beauty more than skin deep? “Whither is thy beloved turned 
aside V 1 

As the angry tongue of man is ditto to that of woman, why do I write to 
woman and about woman, instead of man? In the old Bible times why did 
God talk so much to man instead of woman? It was because that God was 
greatly misunderstood. It was because that the devil wages in all that he 
possibly can in all of God’s inspirations. Why are the mare and colt called 
horses? Why are the ewe and the lamb called sheep? Why is the sow and 
the pig called hogs? God called man, woman and child, man. And because man 
was physically superior to woman, he wrote all and talked all, and felt that 
all was directed to him. But as we have learned that woman, if she turns 
to righteousness, is superior to man in ! that righteousness ; but if she turns 
to sinfulness, she is superior to man in ! sinfulness ; therefore, woman is truly 
the one to teach, for when woman is walking in sinfulness she is more wicked 
than man, and when she turns to walk uprightly and righteous she is more 
perfect than man. Woman is the inherit-giver, she is the cultivator, she is 
the example-setter, she is the guide and queen ; in mind she is the greatest 
of all of God’s creation. At the creation God created the mortal body of 


352 


HOW AEE WE LED? 


the elephant, the giraffe, the camel and bear, and many other bodies superior 
to the mortal body of man. After creating these bodies God created a 
mind and placed into them, and said those are the beasts of the field. And 
today they are far superior to man in size and strength. 

After creating the beast, God created the mortal body of man, and far in- 
ferior to that of the beast; but next He created the mind of man, and far 
superior to the minds that he created first; and He said, this is man, and he 
shall have dominion over all my creation; and today man rules all manner of 
beasts, just through the superiority of intellect. Beast is far superior to 
man mortally, yet the mind that he created later has dominion over all pre- 
vious creation. 

After God had created man, He said that man wanted a helpmeet, so He 
created woman, still later than man, and still inferior to man physically, and 
superior to man intellectually. Woman’s intellect is superior to man’s, but 
she has been held down through inferiorness of the mortal body. And today 
our lawmakers look upon woman as inferior to man, and in civil law gives 
them the advantage over man, which causes and upholds tumult and strife. 
Today our civil law thinks to quell riots, but it only upholds them and creates 
them. Today our civil law permits the wife to hold and have property of 
her own; go to a dealer and contract a debt regardless of her husband’s will 
and desire, then her property is exempt from that debt, whilst the property 
of her husband is holding, thus encouraging a disposition in woman to take 
more delight in spending money than to gain it. If man and wife are going 
to be equal partners in contracting debts, let them be equal partners in pa} T - 
ing them, that we cultivate the same disposition in the one as in the other. 
Or, if man is to be sole payer, let him be sole contractor, that there may be 
no rioting over debts contracted unbeknown to him. Give man the same 
rights and privileges that woman has, or else bring woman under the same 
rules and regulations with man. 

Again, civil law considers woman inferior to man, and it gives her the 
privilege of saying all that she can think of to agitate him, then if he lays a 
hand on her he is punishable in civil law; whilst on the other hand, if woman 
lays hand on her husband in anger, civil law says she is inferior to man ; If 
you let her trample you under foot, don’t complain. 

A woman may deal out hellfire to her husband until he cannot stand it, 
and if he asks for a bill, civil law says there is no grounds for a bill. Then 
all that a man can do is to go back, make a bigger hell upon earth in his home 
circle than has ever been, take all the strain upon his own shoulders, and let 
his wife get the bill. When the bill is granted it robs him of home, children, 
ties, and all that is just as dear to him as they are to woman. 

Let us teach our women to let Christianity reign in the home circle first. 
Let us remember the words of Jesus, “I did not come to call the righteous, 
but sinners to repentance. ” Let us not teach the righteous, but ask the 
righteous to aid us in teaching the sinner; all that we can call to repentance 
we will call. Then let civil law grant less bills, know no assault or battery, 


ADVICE OF KING SOLOMON. 


353 


but go down to the very roots of sin — the human tongue, and there give the 
devil his just due, regardless of sex, and so help to wipe evil out of existence 
in its infancy ; in all places let the civil law put man and woman on equality. 
Evil will never be quelled except by force, and where shall the force be used? 
Moses tried to force his grown people to lay aside evil and live a religious 
life, but he failed. Constantine tried the same, with the same result; and 
still today civil law is fighting the grown people with the same result; only 
quelling the one that is arrested, and only holding them down as long as civil 
law is enforced upon their shoulders. 

As we are compelled to use force — as there is no way of getting around 
using force — why not go to the very roots of all evil ; why not go down to 
the bottom — in the home circle — the mortal tongue, and so take the advice of 
King Solomon? 

If parents and companions will not take the advice of Jesus and live 
righteously of their own free will and accord — if they will not ‘ ‘suffer their 
little infants to come unto” Christ, why not let civil law force them to? And 
the only place to use it successfully is on the mortal tongue. There is no 
use to put out a fire after all is burned up. Let civil law know no difference 
between man and woman who will not take the advice of King Solomon, and 
“train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not 
depart from it.” (Prov 22:6.) (8.) “He (or she) that so we th iniquity shall 

reap vanity.” (10. ) “Cast out the scorner, and contention shall go out; yea, 
strife and reproach shall cease.” (23:13.) “Withhold not correction from 
the child: for if thou beatest him with the rod, he shall not die/’ (14) “thou 
shalt beat him with the rod, and shalt deliver his soul from hell.” (22:15.) 
‘ ‘Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child, but the rod of correction shall 
drive it far from him. ” (17.) “Bow down thine ear, and hear the words of 
the wise.” (23:20.) “Be not among winebibbers: among riotous eaters of 
flesh,”' (21) “for the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty: and 
drowsiness shall clothe a man with rags. ” (24.) “He that begettetha wise child 
shall have joy of him. ” (29:15.) “The rod and reproof give wisdom; but a 
child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame.” (17) “Correct thy son, 
and he shall give thee rest; yea, he shall give delight unto thy soul.” 

Solomon so much teaches us that we must use force power in raising our 
children, if we raise righteous children, but he does not tell us when to begin. 
But I say that we cannot begin too young. The younger the child the less 
the deed, and the less force required. I once knew a preacher who tried to 
raise his children as he thought was right, by forcing them to obey his com- 
mands when they were yet small. His church members stuck their tongues 
in ; they abandoned him and dismissed him from their church. This was the 
work of the devil among the (so-called) Christians. You must always expect 
the devil to do this work, but pay no more attention to what they say than as 
though you did not hear it. Your neighbors cannot turn you out of your 
own home if they do turn you out of their church. “A stitch in time saves 
nine;” it is easier to sew up a garment that has ripped one inch than it is to 


354 


HOW ARE WE LED? 


wait until after it lias ripped a yard, and then sew up thirty-six inches. It 
is easier to correct a child one year old than it is to wait until he is ten or fif- 
teen years old, and then correct him. It is far easier to correct a child for 
crippling a bird than it is to punish him for murdering his fellow man. 

But Solomon said, correct “the son,” not the daughter. Why does Solo- 
mon select the son, and let the daughter remain in disobedience ? Because 
the devil told him that all responsibility, all honor and all praise should be 
bestowed upon the man. Solomon was a man , the same as you and I; living 
under humane frailty , the same as you and I. I say that the mother is the 
inherit giver of Cain’s birth-mark or the birth-mark of Jesus; the rearer and 
cultivator of the mind, place all honor, all shame, all responsibility upon the 
shoulders of women. Bear and cultivate the minds of your daughters from 
their birth; yea, farther back than that, by cultivating your own mind. 

Civil law says that all responsibility rests upon the shoulders of the father 
— the husband. It is all right that the responsibility of the child should rest 
upon the shoulders of the parents, but it is not right that the responsibility of 
the wife should rest upon the shoulders of the husband, for the reason that 
woman by nature is more shrewd than man, and from her infancy her train- 
ing is to reject the will of others regardless of anything. Woman, contrary 
to the will of her husband, will violate civil law, and she should bear the 
responsibility of such violation, and by imprisonment not by fine. Respect 
not sex, but let every person’s presence account for their own guilt. (29 : 
18.) “He that keepeth the law, happy is he.” Let her that keepeth the 
law also be happy. 

I am here to say what I think is wrong and what I think is right regard- 
less of where I find it. And here I say that we find a man made preacher in 
the Bible — a preacher that omits saying some things for fear of offending 
some one, and says other things just to please man, not to please God. And 
we find one, a King in the book of Ecclesiasts. He says, obey the king, 
good or bad, for the king’s word has power. 

Ecc. 8:2. “I counsel thee to keep the king’s commandments,” (3) “be 
not hasty to go out of his sight. . . .for he doeth whatsoever pleaseth him.” 
(4) “ Where the word of the king is there is power: and who may say unto 
him, what doest thou ?” 

He goes on to say that he was a preacher, but he did not know how to see 
that the human person was two separate beings combined in one: he consid- 
ered the mortal body the man, and that he was no more than the brute. 

Ecc. 1:12. “I, the preacher, was king over Israel in Jerusalem.” I 

said this king was a man made preacher: I am justifiable in saying so, for a 
king is nothing more than a common man, a preacher is nothing more than a 
common person. And he is a man made preacher — not a God made preacher, 
preaching God’s truth; his words are not from God, he is not a preaching to 
please God, but to please man. 

His words are from the devil, for every human being must be a child ot 
the devil or a child of God ; we must be a follower of Christ or a follower of 


USE YOUR OWN JUDGMENT. 


355 


the devil ; for there are only the two classes in the world — there is no middle 
being between God and the devil. 

1:2. “Vanity of vanities, saith the preacher, vanity of vanities ; all is 
vanity. (3) * ‘ What profit hath a man of all his labor which he taketh under the 
sun ?” (4) “ One generation passetli away, and another generation cometh ; 

but the earth abideth for ever. ” (5) ‘ ‘ The sun also riseth, and the sun 

goeth down, and hasteth to his place where he arose.” (6) “The 
wind goeth toward the south, and turneth about unto the north; it 
whirleth about continually, and the wind returneth again according to 
his circuit.” (7) “All the rivers run into the sea; yet the sea 
is not full; unto the place from whence the river came, thither they 
return again. ” (8) “All things are full of labour; man cannot utter 
it; the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing. ” 

(9) ‘ 4 The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be ; and that which 
is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.” 

(10) “ Is there anything whereof it may be said, see, this is new ? it hath 
been already of old time, which was before us.” (11) “There is no remem- 
brance of former things; neither shall there be any remembrance of things 
that are to come with those that shall come after.” (3:9) “What profit 
hath he that worketh in that wherein he laboureth ?” (10) “I have 
seen the travail, which God hath given to the son of man to be exercised in 
it.” (11) “He hath made everything beautiful in his time.” (12) “I 
know that there is no good in them, but for a man to rejoice and to do good 
in his life.” (13) “And also that every man should eat and drink, and 
enjoy the good of all his labour. It is the gift of God.” (18) “I said in 
mine heart concerning the estate of the sons of men, that God might mani- 
fest them, and that they might see that they themselves are beasts.” (19) 

‘ ‘ For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts ; even one thing 
befalleth them, as one dieth so dieth the other ; yea, they have all one breath; 
so that a man hath no pre-eminence above a beast ; for all is vanity.” (20) 
“All go unto one place ; all are of the dust and all turn to dust again.” 

Those words must be inspired of the one great spirit or of the other. I 
ask righteous judgment, are those words inspirations from God, or are they 
inspirations from the devil ? 

The foul records of the Bible show us that there was a class of people in 
those days that were classed but little above the brute ; at the present time 
we also find a class that hold themselves but little above the brute, and as 
that king said, they seem to think themselves but brutes. Why not teach 
them what is their soul ? Why not teach them what to prepare for everlast- 
ing life ? Why not teach them to use their own judgment rather than to 
depend upon what some one else tells them ? 

The very same God that enlightened the Christ that was in Jesus, enlight- 
ened the Christ that was in Abel, Noah, Abraham and others ; that very same 
God enlightens the Christ that is in the human body to-day. 

If Christ became able to reign so much greater in the body of Jesus than 


356 


HOW ARE WE LED? 


he could in the bodies of Abraham, Jacob, Moses and others, why should we 
not strive to drink in more freely of the great waters of life — the great mind 
of God, which is the true and living Christ? Just because we have got to 
drink of that water from our birth, yea, from our first conception, and our 
mothers will not permit us to drink it so early ; our mothers will not fetch 
their little children unto Christ. 

Why are step-mothers harder on their children than own mothers are ? 

Just because the neighbors must dip their tongues into the hell fire that is 
constantly a rolling ; as the brethren were with their preacher for correcting 
his children ; they must have something to say ; their mind is not of the mind 
of God, though the} r may be church members. 

But they say they are redeemed by Jesus Christ, their Redeemer. 

Let us see what their Redeemer says of the tongue, and let us see how 
early we find this Redeemer. 

We will first look at the words of the apostles, what they said about Jesus 
Christ being their Savior. 

Philip 3:20. “From whence also we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus 
Christ/’ (2 Tim. 1:10.) “By the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ.” 
(Titus 1:4.) “To Titus. . . .from God the Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ, 
our Savior.” (2:13) “Looking for. . . .the glorious appearing of the great 
God and our Savior, Jesus Christ.” (3) “ And renewing of the Holy Ghost,” 
(6) “which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ, our Savior.” 
(2 Pet. 2:20.) “Through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.” 

Those apostles tell us that Jesus Christ is the Lord and Savior. Leave 
Jesus out and I agree with them. Christ is God. But we find that they 
took those words from the Old Testament. 

Isaiah 45:19. “I, the Lord, speak righteously. I declare things that are 

right.” (21) “Who hath declared this from ancient times? who hath told it 
from that time ? have not I, the Lord ? and there is no God else beside me ; 
a just God and a Savior; there is none beside me.” (22) “Look unto me 
and be saved. . . .for I am God and there is none else.” (23) I have sworn 
by myself, the words are gone out of my mouth. . . .and shall not return.” 
(43:11) “I, even I, am the Lord; and beside me there is no Saviour.” 
(46:8) “Remember this, and show yourselves men ; bring it again to mind.” 
(9) “I am God, and there is none else ; I am God, and there is none like 
me.” (5) “To whom will ye like me, and make me equal, and compare 
me.” 

God is not flesh and blood, but a spirit ; and when Christ tells us that ‘ ‘ I 
and my Father are one,” “He is in me and I in him,” “the words that I 
speak, they are of the Father.” We must believe that Christ is spirit; we 
must believe that the great spirit of God dwelt in the body of Jesus and ruled 
his tongue and lips. But Jesus, the mortal body of flesh and blood is not in 
the image of God, and is not our Lord or Savior. 

Isa. 49:26. “And all flesh shall know that I the Lord am thy Savior 
and thy Redeemer. ” (50:2) “Is my hand shortened at all ... . at my rebuke 


LOVE YOUR COMPANION. 


35? 


I dry np the sea,” (51:6) “but my salvation shall be forever.” (12) “I, 
even I, am he ... . who art thou, that thou shouldst be afraid of a man that 
shall die?” (60:16) “Thou shalt know that I, the Lord, am thy Savior and 
thy Redeemer. ” 

And then He says of the good moral people, who try to shun all immoral 
words and works, (63:8) “Surely, they are my people, children that will not 
lie ; so he was their Savior.” (16) “Thou, 0 Lord, art our Father, our Re- 
deemer ; thy name is from everlasting,” (18) “ the people of thy holiness 
have possessed it but a little while,” (64:8) “but now, 0 Lord, thou art our 
Father. . . .and we all are the works of thy hand ;” (9) “behold, see, we be- 
seech thee, we are all thy people.” 

Now we find that the apostles got their words from the Old Testament. 
Now we turn to Jeremiah, and we find God a talking through the prophet’s 
lips, just as I have talked ; that the mind is the man, and the fruits of the 
mind are what we shall see. The mother’s mind is inheritable, and is fruitful: 
and God said, (6:19) “I will bring evil upon this people.. ..because they 
have not harkened unto my words, nor to my law, but rejected it.” (7 :9) “Wiil 
ye steal, murder and commit adultery, and swear falsely. . . .and walk after 
other Gods, w r hom ye know not ?” (10) “And come and stand before me 

in this house, which is called by my name ?” (11) “ Is this house which is 
called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes ? behold, even I 
have seen it, saith the Lord. ” 

Do we find any people of the present day that commit any of those deeds, 
and then go and stand in the church, (10) “ and say, we are delivered to do 
all these abominations. They are in- bred sins, every-day sins and short- 
comings: we are delivered to do them?” The Old Testament teaches you : 
“If ye thoroughly amend your ways and your doings,” “Hear the w r ords of 
the Lord, 0 ye women,” “that they may teach their daughters,” to hear the 
word of the Lord and live up to it. Lev. 19:34. “The stranger that dwell- 
eth with you .... thou shalt love him as thyself.” Jesus, knowing human 
nature, knew that the roots of love were not seated in the heart of a stranger, 
said ‘ ‘love thy neighbour as thyself. ” 

Jesus being single, and acquainted with the sociability of neigh- 
boring life, said, cultivate this love between neighbors. I being a married 
man, and acquainted with married life, I say, cultivate this love in your 
home circle, between companions; “ love thy companion as thyself.” I say, 
cultivate a thing at its roots, not at its top ; prune the top, and cultivate the 
root. A man that loves his companion as himself will delight to be in her 
company and to have her in his company; if he cannot take her with him he 
will stay at home with her. Rut the wife must remember that it is she, not 
he, that governs this love in his bosom. It is her works, her words, that 
are ruled by her own mind ; it is her own mind that grows, or destroys, the 
love in his bosom. The wife that loves her companion as herself, will try to 
make a little heaven below in her own home circle ; she will try to give (con- 
stantly) a sweet entertainment at home ; but the husband likewise must re- 


358 


HOW ARE WE LED? 


member that his words, his works, his mind is what grows, or what destroys, 
love in her bosom. 

“Love thy neighbor as thy self.” There is not a human being on the 
face of the earth that can love “ their companion, ” “ their neighbor, ” “the 
stranger and continue in that love, when the words — the works — the mind 
of that stranger, that neighbor, that companion proves to be a continued burn- 
ing lake of hell fire. We must remember that no person is perfect. 
“God is perfection.” If we were perfect we would be equal to God. We 
must remember that the stranger, our neighbor, our companion cannot be 
perfect ; therefore they cannot do perfect work, and when we meet with their 
imperfections, let our words and our actions prove to them that love reigns 
in our mind, and so we sprinkle love into their minds. If this love does not 
consist in the home circle, you may belong to all the churches in the universe, 
yet you cannot have the love of Christ in your bosom ; you cannot be joint 
heir with Christ in love. 

Through the lips of Jeremiah, God said: (9:20) “Hear the word of the 
Lord, O ye women, and let your ear receive the word of his mouth, and teach 
your daughters willing.” (50:29) “Recompense her according to her work ; 
according to all that she hath done.” (Lament, 1 :22) “Let all their wicked- 
ness come before Thee ; and do unto them as Thou hast done unto me for all my 
transgressions.” (1:2) “She weepeth sore in the night, and her tears are 
on her cheeks ; among all her lovers she hath none to comfort her ; all her 
friends have dealt treacherously with her, they are become her enemies.” 

Why have her lovers ceased to comfort her ? Why have her friends be- 
come her enemies ? Is it on account of her loving kindness to them ? 
Loving kindness, loving kindness, loving kindness — 0, how great. Have her 
friends become her enemies in return for her loving kindness, or have her 
words and her doings given them some cause for enmity ? Her friends have 
become her enemies on account of some enmity in her own bosom ; she feels 
that God has forsaken her, when in reality she has forsaken God. (4:11) 
‘ ‘The Lord hath accomplished His fury; He hath poured out His fierce anger. ” 

Here is a misunderstanding. “God is Love. ” The devil is anger. It 
is the devil that “hath poured out his fierce anger.” I give the devil his 
due in all places — in the Bible or out of the Bible. God inspires the mind 
of man, and the devil is ditto. 

I once heard a preacher preach a sermon concerning two and two of all 
things ; and he said there must be two in heaven, just the same. He pointed 
out the male and female of bird and beast, man and wife, two and two of all 
things ; then he turned to plants and herbs ; brush and trees ; and said all 
must have two, pointing out some trees that he said would not bear fruit 
unless there were two growing close together. Then he turned to Heaven, 
and said that there must of necessity be two in Heaven ; therefore it was neces- 
sary that God have Jesus Christ as a companion, that of necessity Christ was a 
companion and with God before the creation of the worl(l, when He said, 
“Let us make man in our own image.” In order to sustain his argument, he 


GOD AND THE DEVIL CONTRASTED. 


359 


must deny the words of Jesus, “ 1 and the Father are one.” He was a giv- 
ing us something newer than the New Testament, outside of the doctrine of 
Jesus. They all do this, yet they tell me that I must not. 

If it is of necessity that there be two in the great eternity, let us look 
only at the human beings that were made in their image. They created Adam 
and Eve in their image, and the first impulse of the devil was to beguile the 
mind of Eve, and so lead them into disobedience of God’s will. To-day, can 
we find a woman who will take advantage of her husband, and do things con- 
trary to his will ? To-day, can we find women who may work with their hus- 
bands one minute and the next minute they will work against him ? Is it 
strange that they do so ? Does not the devil work with God one minute and 
t he next minute work against him ? When we are led by the mind of the 
devil, is it strange that we do as the devil does ? Now I ask if, of necessity, 
there must be two in the great eternity, is it not god and the devil ? Laying 
our former teachings aside and depending upon good judgment, if there is 
any wrath to be dealt out, is not it the devil who deals it out ? 

God is love, Satan is hatred ; God is purity, Satan is pollution ; God is 
perfection, Satan is defection ; God is cleanness, Satan is filthiness ; God is 
kindness, Satan is harshness ; God is calmness, Satan is commotion ; God is 
correctness, and Satan is insanity. Is it not Satan that punishes the human 
mind ? 

Is not swine and hog one ? Is not horse and beast one? Is not pa and 
father one? Is not God and Christ one? Or are they two because there are 
two names ? But you say that God and the devil are in direct opposition. 
Did you ever see two companions that would work together one day, and 
mi other day work in direct opposition ? Is there a place that you can look at 
the human mind, but what you find it in the image of God, or of the devil ? 

When I first began to read the Bible, I read it believing it to be inspira- 
tions, but I believed that God inspired man with righteousness, and the devil 
would inspire that very same man with all the frailty that he possibly could. 
And I have never changed my mind. To-day I read every word of the Bible, 
using my own judgment. And what I think belongs to God, I apply it to 
God ; and what I think belongs to the devil, “ I render therefore unto Caesar 
the things which are Caesar’s.” 

I believe that every word of the Bible should be sifted through righteous 
judgment. And I believe that intellect is far in advance of what it was when 
1 be Bible was written. And when I read the lamentations of Jeremiah, I 
believe that Jeremiah was inspired of God with righteous thoughts, and I be- 
ll; ve that the devil, through human frailty, waged in all the inspiration 
that he possibly could ; therefore I shall not hesitate to conflict his words, 
feeling that the devil shows his works the same in my writings. (4:11) ‘-The 
Lord .... hath poured out His fierce anger, and hath kindled a fire in Zion.” 

The devil kindles this fire on this earth, and those drinking constantly of 
this fire whilst here must expect to drink it through all eternity, where they 
will get its perfect essence. 


360 


HOW ARE WE LED? 


(16) “The anger of the Lord hath divided them.” 

God is not anger, it is the anger of the devil that reigns in their own 
bosom that hath divided them. 

(5:21) “Turn Thou us unto Thee, 0 Lord.” 

They tell us that there is nothing impossible with God ; but I say that 
for God to create us in perfect freedom of mind, and after we have grown up 
in sin, it is impossible for God to forcibly turn us unto his righteous path, and 
at the same time leave us in that freedom in which He created us. 

(22) ‘ ‘ But Thou hast utterly rejected us : Thou art very wroth against us. ” 

God is love ; the devil is wroth ; frailty is imperfection of the human 
mind, not of the body ; this wrothness was in their own mind ; it must have 
been the works of the devil. 

No person is perfect. Jacob, the father and inventor of religious assem- 
blies, was not perfect ; he violated the command, ‘ ‘neither shall he multiply 
wives to himself, that his heart turn not away.” This was frailty, a tincture 
of the devil ; and the women created a little hell upon earth in his home cir- 
cle, and “Rachel envied her sister.” But at that time the whole world was 
in paganism ; could we expect them to step out of heathenism into per- 
fect religion at once ? Or must we expect to grow into righteousness, and 
how can we expect to grow into righteousness, except by cultivation ? 

King David violated the same command by taking “ more. . . .wives out 
of Jerusalem,” and “because thou hast despised me,” because he despised 
God’s righteous way of one wife only, “and hast taken the wife. . . .to be 
thy wife,” “I will raise up evil against thee out of . . . . thine own house.” 

Solomon “had seven hundred wives, and his wives turned away his heart.” 
“A man’s enemies are the men of his own house.” 

Because those things are recorded in the Bible they are not righteousness. 
If we are permitted to reject their practices because they are unrighteous, we 
are permitted to reject anything that good judgment tells us is an inspiration 
of the devil. 

Jacob had two wives, and what was the result ? Hatred in the home cir- 
cle. David had many wives, and what was the result there ? Evil reigned 
in his home circle. Solomon had seven hundred wives, and what was the re- 
sult with him ? They turned his heart from righteousness to wickedness. 
Jesus had no wife, and what was the result there? Wh} T , there has never yet 
a person followed His example as a bachelor, who has ever complained that 
their companion has made their little home a hell upon earth. 

‘ ‘Therefore I will look unto the Lord ; I will look for the God of my salva- 
tion.” Though “they make their hearts as an adamant stone lest the}' 
should hear the law, and the words which the Lord of hosts hath sent 
in his spirit by the former prophets.” 


CHAPTER XXXV. 


THE TWENTY-EIGHT COMMANDMENTS — TWO GREAT CREATORS. 

We will search for some things that the Old Testament tells us that we 
shall not do, and the righteous things that it tells us to do, to become a joint 
heir with Christ. 

The Old Testament tells us to be perfect Christians, saying and doing 
that which is right, and omitting that which is wrong. But among all that 
have ever tried to live a religious life we have never yet found records of one 
that could fill this request save Jesus Christ. But because we cannot live 
perfect, that gives us no excuse for lackage in doing as far as our judgment 
and ability will permit. 

(Gen. 17:1) “ Walk before me, and be thou perfect;” (2) “ and I will 
make my covenant between me and thee.” 

(3:2) “We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden,” (3) “but of 
the fruit of the tree which is in the midst . . . . ye shall not eat .... lest ye die. ” 
(4) “The serpent said unto the woman, ye shall not surely die.” 

The word death means separation. God told them that if they partook 
of that fruit their mind should separate from righteousness, but the devil, 
through delusion, told Eve that they could eat of that fruit and not separate 
from mortal life. But the very moment that they ate the fruit their mind sepa- 
rated from obedience of God’s word, and that separation was spiritual death: 
the very moment that they ate the forbidden fruit they fulfilled God’s word 
by entering into that spiritual death, or separation. So Eve (6) ‘ £ took of the 
fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her ; and he 
did eat.” (8) “And Adam and his wife hid (separated) themselves from the 
presence (the word) of the Lord.” It was not God that did this separating, 
but it was “Adam and his wife.” It is man and woman that leave God, 
not God leaves man. 

The Israelites were commanded what they should not do, and what they should 
do, to become children of God. We find that the stranger was invited to come 
and accept of this religion, and become children of God also This invita- 
tion to the stranger included every human being in the world, so this religion 
was offered to every person, and every person on earth was invited to come 
and be God’s child. Though Moses could not compel any save his own 
people. 

Every person that wants to be a child of God (Exo. 20 :3) ‘ ‘ shalt have 
no other gods.” (4) “Thou shalt not make.... any graven image,” (5) 
“Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them,” (7) “thou shalt not take the 
name of the Lord thy God in vain. ” (8) ‘‘Remember the Sabbath day to 
keep it holy . ” (12) “Honour thy father and thy mother.” (13) “Thou 

shalt not kill.” (14) “ Thou shalt not commit adultery. ” (15) “Thou shalt 
not steal.” (16) “ Thou shalt not bear false witness.” (16) “Thou shalt 


362 


HOW ARE WE LED? 


not covet.” (23:2) “Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil.” (Lev. 
19:13) “Thou shalt not defraud thy neighbor, neither rob him: the wages of 
him that is hired shall not abide with thee.” (14) “Thou shalt not curse the 
deaf, nor put a stumbling block before the blind. ” (15) “Ye shall do no 

unrighteousness” (16) “Thou shalt not go up and down as a tale-bearer 
among thy people. ” (Do we have any tale-bearers to-day ? If we have, they 
are strictly forbidden by the Scriptures that Jesus expounded. The com- 
mand in the 15th verse includes every evil word or deed that the human 
mind can reacK) “ Ye shall do no unrighteousness. ” (17) “ Thou shalt not hate 
thy brother. ” (18) “ Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge.” (What 

do we find next? A positive command in the Old Testament) (18) “Thou 
shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. I am the Lord.” 

We are told repeatedly that Jesus gave us this command — that Jesus' 
command is love. Let us see what Jesus said of the law and the prophets 
which he so frequently expounded: 

“The first of all the commandments is: ‘Thou shalt love the Lord thy 
God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, ’ and the second is like, namely, 
this: ‘Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.’ (Jesus tells us that He 

did not give us those commands, but that they were already commanded.) 
(19:32) “ Honour the face of the old. ” (33) “ If a stranger sojourn ... . 

in your land, ye shall not vex him;” (34) “ thou shalt love him as thyself.” 
(35) “Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment in meteyard, in weight, 
or in measure.” (36) “ Just balance, just weights, a just ephah, and a just 
kin shall ye have.” (Some men ought to have the 36th verse printed on the 
lining of their hats.) (37) “Therefore shall ye observe all my statutes, and 
all my judgments, and do them.” (22:31) “ Therefore shall ye keep my com- 
mandments, and do them.” 

Here we find twenty-eight different commands recorded in the scriptures 
that Jesus read and expounded to the world, and I ask righteous judgment, 
can there be one thing found (except baptism) that Jesus told us to do, 
that is not included in those twenty-eight commands ? The fifth chap- 
ter of Deuteronomy gives us a part of those commands over again, almost 
word for word as Exodus gives them. Those commands include every word 
that mortal tongue can speak, and every deed that the mortal body can com- 
mit, if we would look at them in the right light ; but some folks cannot see 
a thing unless it is particularly pointed at. I have heard some women say 
‘ ‘ those things are not commanded of women ; the Bible don’t say women, it 
says man.” 

Deut. 4:2. “ Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither 
shall ye diminish aught from it.” I have been told that I should be careful 
of what I write. The New Testament was written after the above verse was 
written ; all people have the same privilege to write that the apostles had. 
But let me say here, that Jesus or His apostles did not add to, neither did 
they subtract from the righteousness found in the Old Testament, but they 
greatly expounded them, that we might more clearly understand them. I try 


THE WHOLE DUTY OF MAN. 


363 


to do the very same thing ; all that I differ with the Bible scriptures, is, I 
say, if you are agoing to make a piece of prairie land out of a piece of tim- 
ber land, get out the roots of the timber, don’t cut the timber off leaving the 
stumps there, and at the same time say it is prairie land. I say grub out the 
roots, and the smaller the tree the easier the roots are grubbed. But don’t 
grub out the mind, the spirit, for the mind is the land that you are a trying to 
cultivate; “ the mind is all that makes us men.” Grub out the little evils 
that are a rooting in the mind, and make the mind cleaner and ‘ ‘ whiter than 
snow. ” 

Rev. 22:18. “For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the 
prophecy of this book, if any man shall add unto these things, God shall add 
unto him the plagues that are written in this book.” 

All those words do not prohibit a person from asking God for light and 
understanding ; they do not prohibit a person receiving the light God is always 
ready to give ; those words do not prohibit a person from using their own judg- 
ment, neither do they prohibit a person from testifying to the light and under- 
standing that they have received — either by word of mouth or by the pen. 
Let us read more of the words of the preacher : Ecc. 12:13. “Let us hear 
the conclusion of the whole matter .... for this is the whole duty of man. ” 
Jesus used His own judgment regardless of what other people thought or 
said ; I feel it my duty to follow His example ; it is the duty of every human 
being to exercise and cultivate their own judgment between right and wrong. 

What is the object of life in this world ? What constitutes the human 
being more than the mind ? What is the object of coming into this world 
except to grow and cultivate the mind ? Our mortal bodies “ all are of the 
dust, and all turn to dust again. ” All that comes from the great Creators, 
(God and the devil) is the mind ; and all that returns to the great Creator 
who gave it (God or the devil) is the mind. All that plots, plans, and 
executes the w r ords and the works of mortal man, is the mind ; all that 
receives happiness or wretchedness is the mind. And what is the object of 
coming into this world to grow and cultivate a mind for eternal wretched- 
ness ? What is the objector living so selfish, so greedy, so indignant, as to 
make your own mind perfectly miserable, and also the minds of all that are 
around you ? What is the object of holding self-esteem so highly as to 
drive good judgment entirely out of your own mind ? What is the object 
of plunging your own mind into hell, and also driving all that is before you, 
whilst here upon this earth ? The scolding wife and mother does all of those 
things. I say, drive all that is before you with love, and out of anger; but 
the scolding wife and mother cannot cultivate love, but most thoroughly 
completes this wretchedness. She is the one that sets the example before 
thousands of young wives ; she is the one that gives as an inherit- 
ance to her most beloved, a nature to follow such a practice, to live such a 
life, to die such a death, and to go into everlasting eternity with such a 
wretched mind. I have often heard the remark made “I would rather my 
tongue would wear out than rust out.” This is a great mistake. The mortal 


364 


SOW ARE WE LED? 


tongue is a piece of machinery that God has made, and it will neither rust 
nor wear, but when it is turned to run backward and set loose, it knows no 
end, but drives the ruling mind into insanity. You never see a mild and 
pleasant person (that is always ready and willing to say, “they have as good 
right to their rights, to their ideas, as I have to mine”) become insane. You 
find the insane person to be of a nature to say, “it must go as I want it to 
go, whether you want it to go so or not.” It is the devil that is determined 
that things shall go their way, right or wrong, regardless of good judgment ; 
and upon failure resort to insanity. And 0 what a mind to go into ever- 
lasting eternity. A mind torn from every lovely tie on the face of the earth 
must pass into eternity completely separate and dead to every loving tie 
• through all eternity. Why should we not try to cultivate the mind of our 
dear beloved, in positiveness, coolness, mildness, kindness and love ? What 
is the object of being so greedy, so pilfering, so fraudulent as to eagerly 
exercise their whole mind and thoughts in plotting and planning how they 
can get the last dollar that their friend or neighbor may have, regardless of 
their wants or needs ? What is the object of cultivating a mind that you 
will desire to shun every stranger that you may meet, fearing them to be an 
officer summoning you to court ? When you pass into eternity can you meet 
Christ with any less dread or fear ? But you say, ‘ 4 Ah, I study a plan to 
get around civil law ; they cannot summon me to court.” What is civil law ? 
Do you suppose that God knows civil law ? No ! Neither will your own mind 
know civil law when you meet your God. God’s law will be the law by which you 
will be judged. Even though you live in their great faith, Jesus’ law will 
not judge you, but God’s law of righteousness, right and wrong, which is 
stamped in every human mind will be the law that will judge you, and it 
cannot miss a righteous judgment. 

What is the object of cultivating your mind so that you cannot meet a 
person without the question arising, “What is that person’s feelings toward 
me ? How have I dealt with that person in the past ? Has that person a 
grudge against me for some of my past wrongs ? Is that person’s 
mind and my mind entirely separate and apart from each other, entirely dead 
to each other, on account of some past wrong that I have done him ? Must 
my mind go into everlasting eternity, entirely separate and dead from all 
other human minds, on account of wrongs that I have said or done on this 
earth ? God forbid ! 0 the wretched state of endless loneliness and unhap- 

piness through all eternity, on the account of our own separating our mind 
from God’s righteous path. No sinner can ever repent and walk so perfectly 
as the child that has been compelled to walk rightly in its little tiny path of 
righteousness. Why should not the mother guide her blessed little infant 
righteously, and not only guide it but force it there ? And why should 
neighbors interfere, or say one word ? Your own spirit must answer those 
questions when you meet your God.” 


CHAPTER XXXVI. 


Suppose that I am wrong in regard to what constitutes the spirit. They would 
rather their tongue would wear out than rust out. If a man sue you and 
“ take thy coat, give him thy cloak also.” Is hanging a sin? The mother is 
robbed of the honour she has earned, whilst the father is falsely accused of 
raising his children so recklessly. A good Christian worker. 

The mind is the spirit. Some say that the mind wears out and wastes 
away before the mortal body leaves this earth. To this let me say that I 
have an uncle who is now in his ninety-seventh year. He is so old that he 
is helpless. He is physically disabled from doing anything, good or evil. 
He is physically disabled from recording anything, in his mind, either good 
or evil. His mind is practically asleep, between this world and the next ; and 
when we meet him, the words that are spoken, the things that are transacted 
in his presence have got to be very attractive to impress his mind so that it 
will retain those things one hour. Yet when we come to talk with him of 
things in the past, they are as fresh in his mind as they were in his youth : 
thus proving that his mind is as good to-day as it ever was. But his mortal 
body has so ripened up that he has lost all physical power of exercising his 
mind ; showing that his mind must now sleep until it is translated from 
mortal power to divine or diabolical power. Let us suppose that I am wrong 
as to what constitutes our spirit, suppose we have a being that is visible, a 
bodily form, a being of matter; what does that being amount to except it 
possesses our mind ? In this world 

The mind is all that makes us man, 

Take mind away, what are we then? 

We’re nothing but an artless clump, 

Though breath compels the heart to pump. 

Without the mind our mortal body is naught. Our spiritual being, let it 
be ever so fair, let it be ever so much like our mortal body, let it be what it 
may, is it more than naught except it possesses our mind? Can we tell our spirit 
from any other spirit except it possesses our own mind ? If our mind is 
grown in a little hell and torment in this world, can our spirit possess that 
same mind and remain outside of that great hell and torment through all 
eternity ? If another body of matter makes the spirit, and if the mind 
that is grown in hell and torment here be cast aside and a new mind be put 
into our spirit, how are we agoing to recognize our own spirit, or the 
spirit of our friends ? If we cultivate our mind here in glorious fruits and 
flowers, what can a new mind know of this cultivation ? 

Then again some may say that, after our spirit has been punished in hell 
long enough to satisfy God for our crimes here, we will be translated to 
heaven. Let me ask who knows this to be so ? Jesus said, “ be as wise as 
serpents.” Is it wisdom to change off a little heaven below in our own home 
for a hell upon earth in its stead ? Is it wisdom to make this change in our 


366 


HOW ARE WE LED? 


home circle, and take our chances on something that no man knoweth, some- 
thing that we have no assurance of, something that righteous judgment tells 
us is impossible. The mother, the wife, the companion that is eternally mad 
and a jawing, is a making this very change. 0, the mind ; why should 
not mothers train their children to do right in their infancy, regardless of 
their neighbor’s tongue. 

But, “I would rather my tongue would wear out than rust out.” Again 
I say, “what a mistake.” Some people think that they have got to talk to 
show their wisdom ; but not so. The person that can listen to others talk, 
never interrupting others in their talk, but rather let your words go unspoken 
than to crowd them in unheard ; the person who can bridle his own tongue 
shows far more wisdom than a prattling tongue. When the prattling tongue 
begins to tell of their amusements, they tell them over and over and over 
again. When they begin to tell their grievances, they tell them all and a 
little more. When they dress themselves, they tell of some fault in the 
making, or in the doing up of their clothes, and they will tell it over and 
over again. When they sit down at the table, they find something there to 
fault, and they never know when they have said enough. When they begin 
to slander their neighbor, they never know when they have said enough. 
And when they begin to deal out hellfire, they seem to think that it has no 
end. The person that knows how to keep their tongue still, shows far 
more wisdom than a prattling tongue can show. 

Jesus said, ‘‘be ye as wise as serpents and as harmless as doves.” The per- 
son that has much wisdom, and at the same time bridles their tongue, they 
have conquered many devils, whilst it is impossible for the prattling tongue 
to be as “harmless as doves.” yet it is an easy matter for the tongue that 
is bridled, to gain the wisdom of the serpents. It is a great thing to be wise, 
but it is a greater thing to keep that wisdom to yourself until a proper time 
to show it. I say to the girls, when you choose a man, choose one with a 
quiet tongue, for a prattling tongue will turn into fault finding and cursing. 
The neighbors may say that he is soft, or lacking, but it is far better to have 
a man that is lacking of a fault-finding tongue, than to have one that will 
please all of your neighbors. Let me say to the boys that you have chosen 
an angel from God, if you have chosen one that will bridle her tongue, espe 
daily when you have kindled a little hellfire in your home circle. A man can 
never separate his love and affections from such a woman, neither can In' 
persist in obstinate words and actions toward such a wife. If his nature is 
cross and crabbed, it will soon soften in return for home shed love, every -da 
love, instead' of popular loquacity abroad, and frequent hellfire at home. 

Deut. 11:18. “Lay up these my words in your heart.” (14:1) “Ye 
are the children of the Lord your God, (13 : 18) when thou shall 
hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God, to keep all His commandments 
which I command thee. ” 

If you do that which is actually right in the eyes of God (whether 
particularly spoken of in the Bible or not) you are keeping “all His command- 


GOD GIVES EVERYONE A TALENT. 


367 


ments which I command thee this day.” But how shall we know what those 
commandments are? Christ gives every human being that comes onto the 
face of the earth a talent. That Christ that gives it, is God himself: and 
the talent that He gives, is righteous judgment that is in your own mind, tell- 
ing you what is right and what is wrong in the eyes of God. There is no 
human being but what must have so much of Christ in your body, as to 
possess this talent; some make good use of this talent (judgment) that it 
“bringeth forth some a hundred fold, some sixty fold, some thirty fold,” 
whilst others hide the talent (righteous judgment), which they possess, and 
when they pass from this world, when God calls on them for that talent, 
they must say, ‘ ‘I . . . . went and hid thy talent . . . . lo there thou hast that is 
thine,” then the Lord says, “take therefore the talent from him.” 

We all know when we are a doing right before God, and we all know 
when we cannot do right on the account of a wrong somewhere else, but when 
we find that we cannot shun a wrong, if we use righteous judgment and “of 
the two evils choose the least,” and do just as near right as you can, using 
your own judgment, not mine: then you are doing right in the eyes of God. 
When you meet your God, your own judgment must be the book by which 
you are judged there, and your own judgment must be the book in which all 
must be recorded here. 

J esus said, ‘ ‘If any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, 
let him have thy cloak also. ” ‘ ‘Whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, 

go with him twine. ” “And unto him that smiteth thee on the one cheek 
offer also the other. ” Those things are all right to do, but who can follow 
this practice through life? Suppose you work and earn a suit of clothes, I 
come along and compel you to give me your coat and vest, you give me your 
pants also: All are gone, and you are left to work and earn another suit. 
There are. more children of the devil to want clothes, than there are children 
of God to earn them : another comes and takes your coat and vest, you give 
him your pants also, your second suit is gone and you are left to earn the 
third suit of clothes. Who can follow this practice through life? This 
is an evil, and how can we avoid those evils? 

How long would you remain a child of God? How soon would you become 
a child of the devil, and think that you can get a suit of clothes without earn- 
ing them? The only way that we can avoid those evils, is to forcibly drive 
the devil out of the human being. But it is evil to forcibly drive anyone: 
Yet, if you are a carrying a suit of clothes, and you meet a man who takes 
your coat from you, you are a doing yourself evil if you throw your pants 
and vest after him, and tell him to take all: and you are a doing him evil if 
you throw a stone after him, and drive the devil out of him, and take your 
coat back. All that you can do is to look at those two evils, do the one that 
your own judgment tells you is the least, and so obey God’s commands — so 
walk upright in the sight of God. But, suppose by chance the stone should 
kill that man? It lies in the power of the mother to drive the devil out of 
this man. before it is large enough to require much force, or run any risk of 


368 


HOW ARE WE LED? 


injuring the mortal body. If the mother neglects her duty in driving out 
this devil whilst it is in her power to do so, if she permits this devil to reign 
in and rule the mind of her child until this late hour, the burden of this mur- 
der rests upon the shoulders of his mother, not upon you. Do no willful 
murder; but protect yourself in honesty, and of the evils that may occur, 

‘ ‘choose ye the least, ” and keep your own spirit white and clean. 

But what shall we do with the words of Jesus? “If any man. . . .take 
away thy coat, let him have thy cloak also. ” What I will do with those words 
is, to say, let them give us the whole sermon that Jesus was a preaching 
when He made this remark, then we can understand his meaning, otherwise 
we must lean upon Christ — righteous judgment. 

Then what shall we do with all Jesus’ teachings? Dear reader if you are 
a true Christian, the Christ that is in you will give you his teachings daily — 
teachings that will take you into everlasting happiness. Those will be the 
teachings of Christ; but all that are recorded of the teachings of Jesus, is to 
expound the Old Testament and live up to its righteousness. 

Jesus said, “Be as wise as serpents.” What are those serpents? In 
parable — comparing the devil with the snakes, those serpents were the devil 
that dwell in the bosom of man. Jesus said, “Ye serpents, ye generations of 
vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell? Those serpents are the 
devil. Are we as wise as serpents, if we turn our face to receive the second 
blow after we have received the first? We know nothing of what Jesus said 
about this. Then what shall we do? Use your own judgment when the time 
comes, and of all of the evils that must be committed in order to get out of 
his way, choose ye the least, and so keep your mind cleaner and whiter than 
snow, between you and your God, regardless of what people say. When we 
are forced into evil if we choose the least, it is the Christ that dwells in us 
that makes this choice, and it is that same Christ that washes away the sins 
of the least evil after they have been committed. But if we, of our own will, 
do evil, no Jesus, no Christ, no God, or no preacher can ever wash away that 
sin. The only way that the stain of that sin can be cleansed, is through 
repentance ; and the only meaning to the word repent, is to quit: if you 
repent of swearing, quit swearing; if you repent of stealing, quit stealing; if 
you repent of sinning, quit sinning. The only way that the stains of a volun- 
tary sin can be washed away, is through the Christ that dwells in your own 
bosom. 

Now they ask me what I think about hanging a person? I think it an 
evil to hang a person, but I think that a person that is found guilty of wilful 
murder, is filled with the mind of the devil, and I think it a greater evil to 
permit that person to live to do other evils, or to influence others to do evils, 
so “of the two evils choose the least.” Are we a violating harmony, if, 
when we are forced into evil, we choose the least? The devil dwells in the 
human mind, and if mothers will not force the devil out of her child when a 
small whip will drive it out, the children of God must resort to force to main- 
tain their rights, even though they have to take him to the gallows. They 


MURDERERS SHOULD BE HANGED. 


369 


have asked me, can a Christian hang his fellow man and still be a Christian? 
Mr. Leedy, who was elected governor of the state of Kansas in the year 
1897, “intimated that he will sign the warrants for the execution of all mur- 
derers sentenced to be hung during his term of office.” He also said, “that 
when a man deliberately takes the life of another, he shall pay the penalty 
by giving up his own life.” The same paper stated that there were over 
fifty in his state-prison who have been sentenced to hang, who were not hung, 
on the account that former governors had refused to sign their warrants. 
Can I say that G-overnor Leedy is not a Christian because he says hang the 
murderer and oppress the serpents? Can I say that Governor Leedy is not 
“as wise as the serpents, or as harmless as doves,” because he says protect 
the one that earns the clothes, and oppress the one that forcibly gets his 
clothes? No ! I say that self -judgment in the mind of Governor Leedy 
is a righteous judgment, and shows Christianity in protecting righteousness. 
It is anguishing to see a mother stand and wring her hands and cry for her 
child that stands upon the gallows. Why not teach those mothers if they 
had grubbed the very roots of evil out of their child’s mind in its infancy, 
the murder would never have been committed, the grief never would have 
been thrown upon the friends of the murdered, and this grief never would 
have been brought upon herself. Who is there that has not more sympathy 
for the friends of the murdered, than for the mother that stands before the 
gallows manifesting this great grief? I have far more sympathy for the 
father that gravely stands without shedding a tear, and reflects upon the 
days when he was forbidden the privilege of correcting his child ; as he 
reflects upon the days that he was compelled to either place himself in rank 
as a cruel father and companion, or let his child grow up in iniquity contrary 
to his own will. This father must be considered a cruel husband to his 
family, and an outcast from society, for wanting to raise his child aright; or 
he must bear the shame of being the father to a murderer. If the mother 
cannot realize that the responsibility of the crime rests upon her own shoul- 
ders, until she stands before the gallows to see her child executed, let her 
realize it then. It is a sin to punish the mother so, but it is a greater sin to 
let the mother go without punishment who has raised her child without sub- 
jection, and “of the two sins choose ye the least.” 

We do not oppose the doings of the devil heavily enough, for no person 
can live righteously and permit the devil to take his coat and cloak without 
his trying to protect his own rights. Neither do we teach our mothers plain 
enough that the burden of the child’s crime rests upon the shoulders of that 
mother, both in this world and through all eternity. 

How oft have mothers raised a family of good moral children, and then 
been robbed of the honor that she has earned by the neighbors remarking: 
“ What a nice family of children he has raised!” How oft have mothers per- 
mitted and encouraged their children to do things contrary to their father’s 
will, and then the community throw all the weight upon the father’s shoul- 
ders by remarking, “He has raised a family of worthless children.” This 


370 


HOW ARE WE LED? 


robbery, this false accusation, is unjustly bestowed upon the parents by the 
remarks of people that tell things for facts when they know nothing of what 
they are telling. If this father would earnestly persist in forcing his children 
into righteous obedience this same community would join together in dis- 
gracing him by reporting that he is an awful mean man to his family. We 
have got to learn to care not for what the neighbors say. 

I was once stopping where a young maid dwelt that wanted everything 
in style. When her folks got her anything she would find some fault with it, 
that it must be returned and replaced with something of later style. The 
mother would change and get for the girl just as she wanted; but when the 
mother would get angry she would call the girl a fool, telling her that she 
did nothing but run to school to learn fashions, that she learned nothing at 
school but meanness and fashions, and in five minutes after she would be 
ready to get something more fashionable for the girl. 

One day this girl got a letter from a friend that a box would soon be at 
the express office for her. The mother went to the office, but found nothing 
there. When she returned home the girl was so mad that she made it un- 
pleasant for everybody and everything that was around her. I prophesied 
then that that girl was raised and trained to make some man a scolding wife, 
a woman that would make a little hell upon earth in her own home circle, a 
queen over hellfire in every-day life. We will wait and see if my prophesy 
comes true. 

If we are going to be teachers of righteousness we ought to constantly 
be showing those little trifling things which are contrary to Christian happi- 
ness — to the true doctrine of Christ. And when a preacher tells his congre- 
gation that it is work for him to study up his sermon, but it is a greater work 
for him to study what to leave out, what to omit saying for fear of offending 
some one that is daily practicing some of these wrongs, is he walking in the 
doctrine of Jesus? Is he walking upright before G-od by omitting to teach 
the things that are mostly needed for fear that those who get mad at nothing 
should get mad again? Are they acting as wise as serpents when they claim 
to be teaching us righteousness and omit the things that make our life right- 
eous? Is he following the example of Jesus? Did Jesus say what he had 
to say when he drove them all out of the temple with a scourge of small ropes? 
or did he omit saying for fear of offending some one? Did he omit saying 
for fear of offense when he condemned their following after the traditions of 
^men? Jesus spake the truth regardless of those who rejected it, and for 
that reason they crucified him ; and for the same reason some would crucify 
me to-day. Our preachers ought to continually teach us how to omit hell- 
fire in the home circle, and how to build up a little heaven below in its stead. 
Yes, I say teach us daily that our words and our works in our every-day 
labor, in our home, is the place for righteousness. Truly it would not offend 
those who are living a righteous life at home to tell them that those things are 
righteous, and those who are not living a righteous life at home ought to be 
taught. 


REBELLIOUS CHILDREN STONED. 


371 


In talking about a certain woman it was said of her: a She is a high- 
tempered woman at home, but she is a good Christian worker.” May I ask 
what constitutes “a good Christian worker?” Do I hear the voice of the 
public saying, ‘ ‘A good Christian worker is one that wheedles every person 
into the church that they can influence. ” If such is Christianity, deliver me 
from Christianity, and give me moralism; for when I am teaching good moral 
works I know that I am following after the example of Jesus, for he was bit- 
ter against immorality. And as he cited us to the Old Testament for good 
moral teachings, we will peruse it and expound it. 

Deut. 21 :18: “ If a man have a stubborn and rebellious son (we should 

remember that the Bible omits speaking of the daughters and the women, 
but the daughters actually need the most teaching) which will not obey the 
voice of his father or the voice of his mother,” (19) “then shall. . . .(they) 
lay hold on him, and bring him out unto the elders,” (20) “and they shall say 
unto the elders. . . .our son (or our daughter) is stubborn and rebellious; he 
will not obey our voice;” (then) (21) “all the men of his city shall stone him 
with stones, that he die: so shall they put evil away from among you.” 

In those days evil had to be forced away from among them. In these 
days evil has to be forced away from among us. Why not force it away be- 
fore the child is old enough to require stoning? Why not force evil from 
among us whilst a little whip will fill the place of those stones? Why not 
force those evils from among us while they are such small evil3 that they 
are scarcely worth notice? The child that has never been permitted to do the 
little evils will never commit big evils. Evil words and evil works are thorns, 
tares and weeds ; good words and good deeds are fruits, grain, corn. A good 
farmer will get his ground clean and smooth; the mother that gives her child 
the birth mark of Jesus Christ has made her ground smoother, cleaner and 
whiter than the farmer can make his ground. The fanner plants his corn on 
clean ground; when Christ plants his seed in the heart of this little infant lie 
has planted it in clean ground. In order to raise a good crop the farmer will 
root out the weeds before they are large enough to tell what kind of weeds 
they are. Is not the mind of your dear child more precious than the farm- 
er’s corn? Why should not the mother root the weeds out of her little gar- 
den before they are large enough to tell what they are? When the farmer 
goes into his field to plow, the ground looks clean before him, but when he 
stirs the ground there are many small weeds that are yet harmless. If the 
farmer leaves his weeds for his neighbors to root out they get their growth 
and his corn is spoilt; and in rooting out those evil weeds they often root out 
the corn and kill it. If the mother leaves her weeds for her neighbors to root 
out they get their growth and her precious one is spoilt, and the neighbors, 
in rooting out those evil weeds, often root out the corn and kill it. Why 
should not the neighbors bridle their tongues, and let the mother root out those 
small weeds that look perfectly harmless while her little ground looks clean 
before her? 


CHAPTER XXXVII. 


Are they children of the devil? Who shall dwell in thy holy hill? There is no 
fear of God. We have no cause to feel as we do toward the true Israelite. It 
was the hypocrites who called themselves Israelites that crucified Jesus. We 
have hynocrites who call themselves Christians who would crucify Him to- 
day if He were here and would tell them the truth about their church, their 
creed and their doing’s, as He talked to the Jews. Who catch men, women 
and children? 


Deut. 24:14: “Thou shalt not oppress a hired servant that is poor and 
needy.” 

How many we find to-day that violate this command. Our preachers 
ought to teach the mothers daily to stamp this in the disposition of their 
children. 

Job 1:1: “Job. . . .was perfect and upright, and one that feared God 
and eschewed evil.” (5) “ Job said, it may be that my sons have sinned.” 

(4:8.) “They that plough iniquity and sow wickedness reap the same.” 
(11:20.) “But the eyes cf the wicked shall fail, and they shall not escape, 
and their hope shall be as the giving up of the ghost.” (19:15.) “They 
. . . .count me for a stranger. I am an alien in their sight.” 

Let us see what Eliphaez said to Job, and then let us remember that 
friends are liable to turn to be our enemies. 


22:1. “Then Eliphaz. . . .said: Cana 
man be profitable unto God, as he that 
is wise may be profitable unto him- 
self ?” 

3 Is it any pleasure to the Almighty 
that thou art righteous? or is it gain to 
him that thou makest thy ways perfect? 

4 Will he reprove thee for fear of 
thee? Will he enter with thee into 
judgment ? 

5 Is not thy wickedness great? and 
thine iniquities infinite ? 

6 For thou hast taken a pledge from 
thy brother for nought, and stripped 
the naked of their clothing. 

7 Thou hast not given water to the 
weary to drink, and thou hast with- 
holden bread from the hungry. 

8 But as for the mighty man, he had 
the earth; and the honorable man dwelt 
in it. 

9 Thou hast sent widows away empty, 
and the arms of the fatherless have 
been broken. 

10 Therefore snares are round about 
thee, and sudden fear troubleth thee; 


11 Or darkness, that thou canst not 
see; and abundance of waters cover 
thee. 

12 Is not God in the height of heaven? 
and behold the height of the stars, how 
high they are! 

13 And thou sayest, how doth God 
know? can he judge through the dark 
cloud? 

14 Thick clouds are a covering to him 
that he seeth not; and he walketh in the 
circuit of heaven. 

15 Hast thou marked the old way 
which wicked men have trodden ? 

16 Which were cut down out of time, 
whose foundation was overflown with 
a flood: 

17 Which said unto God, Depart from 
us: and what can the Almighty do for 
them? 

18 Yet he filled their houses with good 
things: but the counsel of the wicked is 
far from me. 

19 The righteous see it, and are glad; 
and the innocent laugh them to scorn. 

20 Whereas our substance is not cut 


372 


THE CHILDREN OF THE DEVIL. 


373 


down, but the remnant of them the fire 
consumeth. 

21 Acquaint now thyself with him, 
and be at peace: thereby good shall come 
unto thee. 

22 Receive, I pray thee, the law from 
his mouth, and lay up his words in thine 
heart. 

23 If thou return to the Almighty, 
thou shalt be built up, thou shalt put 
away iniquity far from thy tabernacles. 

24 Then shalt thou lay up gold as 
dust, and the goldoi Ophir as the stones 
of the brooks. 

25 Yea, the Almighty shall be thy de- 
fence, and thou shalt have plenty of 
silver. 


26 For then shalt thou have thy de- 
light in the Almighty, and shalt lift up 
thy face unto God. 

27 Thou shalt make thy prayer unto 
him, and he shall hear thee, and thou 
shalt pay thy vows. 

28 Thou shalt also decree a thing, 
and it shall be established unto thee: 
and the light shall shine upon thy 
ways. 

29 When men are cast down, then 
thou shalt say, There is lifting up; and 
he shall save the humble person. 

30 He shall deliver the island of the 
innocent: and it is delivered by the 
pureness of thine hands. 


It was the children of the devil talking to Job, and the children of the 
devil talk just the same to-day. Some ask, who do I call the children of the 
devil ? I ask, why not speak the truth? If our mind is led by the mind of 
God we are children of God; if our mind is led by the mind of the devil we 
are children of the devil. Why not tell every person what they are and let 
them see for themselves ? Why should we wheedle them into the church, 
and flatteringly teach them that they are the children of God when they are in 
reality children of the devil ? There are two great spirits, and only two. 
There are two classes of people, and only two. The people whose actions, 
whose works, whose words and deeds in their home life, in every-day labor, 
show whether they are children of God or children of the devil. When their 
words and their actions show it, should I hesitate to tell it for fear of offend- 
ing some one ? 

Why should we teach those whom we have wheedled into the church 
that they are children of God, because they attend church regular and keep 
up their church dues, whilst when at home in their every day work, they are 
cursing and swearing, they are kicking and pounding their team, their anger 
and continual dealing out of hellfire showing that their mind is led by the 
mind of the devil ? When we call such people children of God, the young 
people' that are looking for light, and especially their own children who see 
those things daily, do say if this is what they call religion, religion is a 
mockery. Without anger, we must whip our team to make them know that 
they must submit to our will, we must whip our dog to learn him that he 
must obey our command, and we must whip our child to drive the stubborn 
devil out of their mind ; and the one who fails to use the whip when it is 
needed, because they are not angry; and then unreasonably whip when they 
are angry, they show that their mind is led by the mind of the devil, and they 
must be a child of the devil. No person will use reason in whipping when 
they are angry, who was never trained in youth, to be kind to the puppy, the 
kitten or the little bird that may be in their power. And those who have 
been raised to do right by all things, will never unreasonably whip, when out 


374 


HOW ARE WE LED? 


of anger (Psa. 11:7), “for the righteous Lord loveth righteousness: His 
countenance doth behold the upright.” Jesus was raised in the old Jewish 
church, and when He began teaching righteousness He stepped out of the 
church to teach good morals in every spot and place, in the church and out 
of the church, and abolishing all immoralities in the church or out of. the 
church. And he said, “Suffer little children to come unto me;” but in no 
place do we find any record that He ever once said, put your children into a 
church. Now, how can we suffer the little children to go unto Christ, except 
by the cultivation of the mind? 

15:1 “Who shall dwell in thy holy hill?” (2) “He that walketh up- 
rightly, and worketh righteousness, and speaketh the truth.” (3) “He that 
backbiteth not with his tongue, nor doeth evil to his neighbors” (companion). 

17:3 “Thou hast proved my heart; thou hast visited me in the night; 
thou hast tried me and shall find nothing: I am purposed that my. . . .(pen) 
shall not transgress.” (19:14) “Let the words of my mouth (the words of my 
pen) and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my 
strength, and my redeemer.” (24:10) “He is the king of Glory.” (3) “Who 
shall stand in His holy place?” (4) “He that hath clean hands, and a pure 
heart.” (5) “He shall receive the blessings from the Lord.” (25:2) “O 
my God, I trust in thee: let me not be ashamed.” “God is Christ and 
Christ is love. The Old Testament sa3 7 s, don’t be ashamed of God; the New 
Testament says, don’t be ashamed of Christ; I say don’t be ashamed of love, 
especially in the home circle. Don’t be ashamed to manifest the tokens of 
love between companions, though the whole neighborhood join in saying, ‘ ‘It 
looks perfectly silly. ” And I say the ones to teach this to is the little infants: 
it is hard to learn old dogs new tricks. It is hard to teach love, where hatred 
has already got its full growth. 

The Old Testament says, “don’t be ashamed of God,” “for God is 
love.” The New says, “don’t be ashamed of Christ,” that Christ, “land 
God are one.” The preachers tell us that “the Old Testament is annulled, 
abolished, dead, and laid aside.” I say, (3) “let them be ashamed which 
transgress without cause. ” Remember: “ let them be ashamed which trans- 
gress without cause.” Those who are driven into transgression, have no 
cause for shame, if “of the two or more evils they choose the least.” 

(4) “0 Lord, teach me thy paths,” (5) “lead me in thy truth, and 
teach me: for thou art the God of my salvation, ” (21) “let integrity and up- 
rightness preserve me.” (26:11) “As for me, I will walk in mine integrity.” 
(29:2) “Give unto the Lord the glory due unto his name.” (The Old Testa- 
ment says, that God is the Lord). (34.13) “Keep thy tongue from evil and 
thy lips from speaking guilt. ” (14) “depart from evil and do good, seek 

peace, and pursue it.” 

Good advice if practiced daily at home, ‘ ‘Keep thy tongue from evil, ” 
“keep peace” “and do good, ” for (15) “the eyes of the Lord are upon the 
righteous.” (16) “The face of the Lord is against them that do evil.” (35:20) 

1 ‘For they speak not peace : but they devise deceitful matters against them that 


SPEAK THE TRUTH. 


are quiet in the land,” (21) “yea they open their mouth wide against me.” 
(36:1) “The transgression of the wicked saith. . . .there is no fear of God.” 

Many have told me that there was no fear of God, God is not such a 
cruel God as the preachers tell for, God never created a hell for to put man 
in, and that they have no such fear. I have learned to see that they are 
right. God is not cruelty ; there is no fear of God : but there is great fear of 
the devil: and the devil rules higher to-day over the human mind than God 
does. (4) “ He deviseth mischief. . . .he setteth himself in a way that is not 
good: he abhoreth not evil.” 

37:8 “Cease from anger and forsake wrath: fret not thyself in any wise 
to do evil.” (21) “The wicked borroweth and payeth not again.” (27) 
“Depart from evil and do good.” (32) “The wicked watcheth the right- 
eous and seek to slay them.” (28:20) “They. . . .that render evil for good 
are mine adversaries.” (39:1) “I will take heed to my ways, that I sin not 
with my tongue: I will keep my mouth with a bridle.” (50:19) “Thou giveth 
thy mouth to evil, and thy tongue frameth deceit;” (20) “thou slandereth 
thine own mother’s son;” (21) “these things hast thou done, and I 
kept silence ; thou thoughtest that I was altogether such a one as thyself : but 
I will reprove thee.” (22) “Now consider this, ye that forget God.” 

51 :15 “O Lord, open thou my .... (book) ; and my .... (pen) shall show” 
(to the world, that) (16) “thou desirest not sacrifice. . . .thou delightest not 
in burnt offerings.” (17) “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken 
and contrite heart. ” 

52:1. “ Why boasteth thou thyself in mischief, 0 mighty man?” (2) ‘ £ Thy 
tongue deviseth mischiefs; like a sharp razor, working deceitfully.” (3) 
« ‘ Thou lovest evil more than good ; and lying rather than to speak right- 
eousness.” (4) “0 thou deceitful tongue.” (59:12) “ For the sins of their 
mouth and the words of their lips.” (52:5) “God shall likewise destroy 
thee forever. ” (66:18) “If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will 

not hear me.” (77 :13) “ Who is so great a God as our God ?” (78:5) 

< < For He established a testimony .... w r hich he commanded our fathers that 
they should make them known to their children.” (36) “Nevertheless they 
did flatter Him with their mouth, and they lied unto Him with their tongues, ” 
(37) “for their hearts were not right with Him. ” 

It appears that those psalms were written by different kings ; and those 
kings, the same as I, seem to think that the root of all evil rests upon the 
human tongue. But they dwelt upon the falseness of the tongue, whilst I 
reflect more upon the great hell-fire that cuts like a two-edged sword. The 
human tongue may be driven into lying, but, if, of the two evils ye choose 
the least, ye may walk uprightly before God. Whilst on the other hand, 
the human tongue by dealing out hell-fire, of ten drives the listener into assault 
and battery, or felony, and then civil law often punishes the felonist, but no 
punishment for the hell-fired tongue that drove him into it. 

I believe in speaking the truth and writing the truth ; yet I cannot say 
so much against lying as I would like to, for the reason that, in dealing with 


876 


HOW ARE WE LED? 


the children of the devil, we always find them ready to take the advantage 
in some way. Therefore, Christians are often driven into lying, to save the 
forfeit of their own rights. “Of the two evils choose ye the least.” But 
because you are driven into evil to-day, if you voluntarily do that evil to- 
morrow, you have committed as great a sin as though you had never com- 
mitted that sin through force. Force only excuses the sin that is committed 
during that force. 

My old father-in-law used to tell me that children and fools tell the 
truth ; and he used to give me lessons to that effect. In dealing with him 
I would tell him the truth about my property, whilst he would falsely repre- 
sent his property to me, and so take advantage of me in a deal, and then say, 
“children and fools tell the truth.” 

I used to work at job work a great deal, and in planning and figuring to 
get a job, if I told my friends and neighbors the truth, some one would get 
that job from under me. If I would protect my rights by lying, and then 
preach to the world that it is a sin for you to lie because you have not faith 
in Jesus Christ, but for me to lie, Jesus Christ will blot out that sin from 
me, because I have that faith, I say no! Jesus Christ will not blot out one 
sin for me. But if necessfty compels me to lie or do some greater evil to 
myself or family by forfeiting my own rights, “ of the two evils choose ye 
the least.” So I will not tell people that they have got to tell the truth at 
all times or fail in gaining heaven, for I know that this world is full of lies 
and deceit. I find that a large majority of this world is ready to take the 
advantage of the truth. Then what shall we do? Jesus said, “be as wise 
as serpents.” Are we as wise as serpents when we continue in telling the 
truth, and they continue in taking the advantage of it. Remember those 
serpents that Jesus points us to, are the children of the devil, where Jesus 
called them “ye serpents .... how can ye escape the damnation of hell ?” 
Are we as wise as those serpents when we are continually giving them the 
advantage of us ? Then what shall we do ? I can only tell what I have 
done : “A wise head keeps a still tongue.” I often sit still and let others 
do the talking. Often I do not answer when asked a direct question. Often 
times I answer by quoting another person’s words or by asking them some ques- 
tion ; and when they pinch me close, I am not afraid to tell them that I will not 
answer. In order to make this perfect, I must practice it in things that are 
of no interest; by this I can avoid telling the truth without telling a lie. I 
find it far better to be as wise as serpents, and keep my wisdom to myself, 
than it is to be less wise and let everybody know the full extent of my wis- 
dom. Prov. 29:11. “ A fool uttereth all his mind, but a wise man keepeth 
it in.” 

Asaph said : “0 my people.” (Psal. 94:16.) “Who will rise up for 

me against evil doers? or who will stand up for me against the works of 
iniquity?” (91:2) “I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fort- 
ress ; my God ; in Him will I trust.” (109:2) “The mouth of the wicked 
and the mouths of the deceitful are opened against me ; they have spoken 


BLESSED ARE THE UNDEFILED. 


377 


against me with a lying tongue,” (3) they compassed me about also with 
words of hatred ; and fought against me without a cause.” 

God’s statutes, God’s judgments, God’s precepts, and God’s command- 
ments are God’s divine law ; and the little roots and branches of his divine 
law are, every good word, and every good deed picked up in any spot or 
place that they may be found, so we will say, (119:1) “blessed are the unde- 
filed in the way, who walk in the law of the Lord.” (2) “Blessed are they 
that keep his testimonies, and that seek him with the whole heart.” 

The way to seek God is to seek Godliness, to seek to do some good ; 
to think something good, to say something good ; to constantly seek after 
those things is the only way we can seek God. And to love, to say and to 
do those words and works is the only way that we can love God. 

You may be ever so good a church member, when you find yourself lying 
about your neighbors, financially or characteristically injuring them, or when 
you are dealing out hell-fire in your home circle, or when you are doing 
anything that you know is wrong, unless you stop right there and then, and 
think in your own mind, ‘ ‘ I will not finish this wrong act that I am do- 
ing, or those wrong words that I am speaking ; you are not loving God. 
You cannot love God and go on with those wrong acts or words. But we 
will go on with Asaph’s words : 


119:4. Thou hast commanded us to 
keep thy precepts diligently. 

5. O that my ways were directed to 
keep thy statutes. 

6. Then shall I not be ashamed, 
when I have respect unto all thy com- 
mandments. 

7. I will praise thee with upright- 
ness of heart, when I shall have learned 
thy righteous judgments. 

8. I will keep thy statutes : O for- 
sake me not. 

9. Wherewith shall a young man 
cleanse his way ? By taking heed thereto 
according to thy word. 

10. With my whole heart have I 
sought thee : O let me not wander from 
thy commandments. 

11. Thy word have I hid in mine 
heart, that I might not sin against thee. 

12. Blessed art thou, O Lord : teach 
me thy statutes. 

16. I will delight myself in thy stat- 
utes : I will not forget thy word. 

17. Deal bountifully with thy ser- 
vant, that I may live, and keep thy 
word. 

18. Open thou mine eyes, that I may 
behold wondrous things out of thy law. 

19. I am a stranger in the earth: 
hide not thy commandments from me. 


20. My soul breaketh for the long- 
ing that it hath unto thy judgments at 
all times. 

21. Thou hast rebuked the proud 
that are cursed, which do err from thy 
commandments. 

22. Remove from me reproach and 
contempt. 

29. Remove from me the way of 
lying : and grant me thy law gra- 
ciously. 

30. I have chosen the way of truth : 
thy judgments have I laid before me 

33. Teach me, O Lord, the way of 
thy statutes ; and I shall keep it unto 
the end. 

34. Give me understanding, and I 
shall keep the law : yea, I shall observe 
it with my whole heart. 

35. Make me to go in the path of thy 
commandments , for therein do I de- 
light. 

36. Incline my heart unto thy testi- 
monies, and not to covetousness. 

37. Turn away mine eyes from be- 
holding vanity ; and quicken thou me 
in thy way. 

38. Establish thy word unto thy ser- 
vant, who is devoted to thy fear. 

44. So shall I keep thy law contin- 
ually for ever and ever. 


378 


HOW ARE WE LED? 


45. And I will walk at liberty : for 
1 seek thy precepts. 

46. I will speak of thy testimonies 
also before kings, and will not be 
ashamed. 

51. The proud have had me greatly 


in derision; yet have I not declined from 
thy law. 

53. Horror hath taken hold upon me 
because of the wicked that forsake thy 
law. 


(59) “I thought on my ways, and turned my feet unto thy testimonies. ” 
(61) “The wicked have robbed me: but I have not forgotten thy law. ” 
(63) “ I am a companion of all of them ths t fear thee, and of them that 
keep thy precepts. ” (66) “Teach me good judgment and knowledge ; for 

I have believed thy commandments.” (69) “The proud have forged a lie 
against me : but I will keep thy precepts with my whole heart.” (98) “Thou 
through thy commandments have made me wiser than mine enemies.” 
(126) “For they have made void thy law.” (128) “Therefore I esteem all 
thy precepts concerning all things to be right ; and I hate eve^ false way ” 
(133) “Order my steps in thy word : and let not any iniquity have domin- 
ion over me.” (134) “Deliver me from the oppression of man : so will I 
keep thy precepts.” (140) “Thy word is very pure ; therefore thy servant 
lovethit.” (142) “Thy righteousness is an everlasting righteousness, and 
thy law is the truth. ”(150) They draw nigh that follow after mischief : they are 
far from thy law.” (152) “Concerning thy testimonies I have known of 
old that thou hast founded them forever.” (155) “ Salvation is far from 
the wicked : for they seek not thy statutes.” (158) “I beheld the trans- 
gressors, and was grieved; because they kept not thy word.” (163) “I 
hate and abhor lying ; but thy law do I love.” (166) “ Lord, I have hoped 
for thy salvation, and done thy commandments,” (172) “my. . . .(pen) shall 
speak of thy word : for all thy commandments are righteous.” (173) “ Let 
thine hand help me: for I have chosen thy precepts. ” King David said, 
(120:2) “Deliver my soul, O Lord, from lying lips, and from a deceitful 
tongue.” (3) “ What shall be done unto thee ; thou false tongue ?” (7) “I 
am for peace ; but when I speak, they are for war.” (125:3) “ The rod of 
the wicked shall not rest upon the lot of the righteous ; lest the righteous 
put forth their hands unto iniquity. ” (4) “Do good, O Lord, unto those 

that be good, and to them that are upright in their hearts.” (In the next 
verse I will change the word “brethren” to the word “companion.”) 
(133:1) “ Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for. . . .(companions) to 
dwell together in unity.” (139:4) “ 0 Lord, thou knowest it altogether, ” 
(20) “for they speak against thee wickedly, and thine enemies take thy name 
in vain.” (21) “0 Lord.... am not I grieved with those that rise up 

against thee ?” (23) “Search me, O God, and know my heart try me and 

know my thoughts,” (24) “ and see if there be any wicked way m me, and 
lead me in the way everlasting. ” (140 :1) “ The violent man” (2) ‘ ‘ which im- 
agine mischief in their hearts : continually are they gathered together for 
war. ” (3) ‘ ‘ They have sharpened their tongues like a serpent : adders’ poi- 

son is under their lips.” (144:11) “Rid me, and deliver me from the hands 


THE WORD IS THE LAW. 


379 


of strange children, whose mouths speaketh vanity, and their right hand is a 
right hand of falsehoods. ” 

Prov. 1:5. “A wise man will hear, and will increase learning; and a man 
of understanding shall attain unto wise counsel,” (8) ‘‘my son, hear the in- 
struction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother.” 

With the people in those days, the words of the mother was the mother’s 
law; “forsake not the law of thy mother.” The words of a king was the 
king’s law; and the words of Moses, was Moses’ law: and the words of God, 
was God’s law: yet they called it all law without any distinction. How shall 
we tell what part of the old law is abolished, dead, and laid aside; except to 
use our own judgment? 

9. “For they shall be an ornament of grace unto thy head, and chains 
about thy neck. ” (10) “My son, if sinners entice thee consent thou not;” 
(11) “if they say, come with us, let us lay wait for blood,” (15) “walk not 
thou in the way with them: refrain thy foot from their path,” (16) “for their 
feet run to evil, and make haste to shed blood.” (19) “So are the ways of 
everyone that is greedy for gain; which taketli away the life of the owners 
thereof.” (3:1) “My son, forget not my law; but let thine heart keep my com- 
mandments.” (The father’s word was his law). (11) “Despise not the chas- 
tening of the Lord,” (12) “for He correcteth; even as a father the son in 
whom hedelighteth.” (27) “Withhold not good from them to whom it is due, 
■when it is in the power of thine hand to do it.” (Do good when it is in your 
power to do good, God does not ask you to do good when you are forced away 
from it.) (29) “Devise not evil against thy neighbor.” (30) “Strive not with 
a man (woman or child) without cause.” (4:14) “Enter not into the path of 
the wicked, and go not in the way of evil men.” (15) “Avoid it, pass not 
by it, turn from it, and pass away.” (16) “For they sleep not, except they 
have done mischief ; and their sleep is taken away, unless they cause some 
to fall,” (17) “for they eat the bread of wickedness, and drink the wine of 
violence.” (18) “But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth 
more and more unto the perfect day.” (19) “The way of the wicked is as 
darkness: they know not at what they stumble.” (20) “My son, attend to my 
words; incline thine ear unto my sayings,” (21) “keep them in the mind of 
thine heart,” (22) “for they are life unto those that find them.” 

They are spiritual life, life is unity; they are spiritual unity with God 
manifest in all Godly words and actions. In the next verse I will change 
the words “heart” to “mind.” 

23. “Keep thy mind with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of 
(spiritual) life.” (24) “Put away from thee a forward mouth, and perverse 
lips.” (26) “Ponder the path of thy feet, and” (27) “remove thy foot from 
evil,” (5:3) “for the lips of a strange woman drop as a honeycome, and her 
mouth is smoother than oil.” (6:10) “Yea a little sleep a little slumber,” 
(11) “so shall thy poverty come.” 

Some like to sleep and waste away their time in the morning, or sit at the 
table a half hour after each meal, but if companions are so agreed, let that 


380 


HOW ARE WE LED? 


be their privilege ; remembering it is far better to take ‘ ‘a dinner of herbs 
where love is,” than it is for one to get up early, and leave the table early, 
and mingle in hell-fire and torment, to gain the ‘ ‘stalled ox and hatred there- 
with. ” 

16. These. . . .things doth the Lord hate . ” (17) “A proud look, a lying 
tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood. ” (18) “A heart that deviseth 
wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running into mischief.” (19) “A 
false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethern.” 

20. “My son, keep thy father’s commandments, and forsake not the 
law of thy mother, ” (22) ‘ ‘ when thou goest it shall lead thee ; when thou 
sleepest, it shall keep thee, and when thou awakest it shall talk with thee,” 
(23) “for the . . . .reproofs of instructions are the way of life.” (24) “ To 
keep thee from the evil woman, from the flattery of the tongue of a strange 
woman.” (25) “Lust not after her beauty,” (26) “for .... the adul- 
teress will hunt for the precious life.” (27) “ Can a man take fire in his 
bosom, and his clothes not be burned ?” (12:4) “ A virtuous woman is a 

crown to her husband. ” (10) “A righteous man regardeth the life of his 

beast : but the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel.” 

How true those words are ; a man that will work his beasts all day, and 
then put them in the stable at night without feed or water, his tender mercies arc 
cruel ; and some do it when they are a little cold or tired. Such people show 
that the disposition that they inherited from their mother, is to provide for 
their own pleasure and comfort regardless of anything else. 

“ Of all my father’s family, 

I love myself the best ; 

If providence provides for me, 

The devil may have the rest.” 

22. Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord; but they that deal truly are 
his delight. ” (14 :16) “A wise man feareth, and departeth from evil : but the 

fool rageth, and is confident. ” (17) “He that is soon angry dealeth fool- 

ishly : and a man of wicked devices is hated.” (Yes,) “ he that is soon an- 
gry dealeth foolishly.” (29) “ He that is slow to wrath is of great under- 
standing.” 

There is nothing that creates as much happiness as the cultivating of 
the nature to be slow to anger. 

15:1. “A soft answer turneth away wrath : but grievous words stir up 
anger.” 

This verse I have long sought for. There is nothing so sweet as soft 
words in the home circle. 

17:1. “Better is a dry morsel, and quietness therewith, than a house 
full of sacrifices with strife.” 

Some women cannot believe this last verse, and whatever they take a 
notion to have in the house, they will have it, strife or no strife. Those are 


DO RIGHT. 


381 


the women that bless their little child with Cain’s birthmark, and then sink 
in dispair to see their child on the gallows. 

19.14. “A prudent wife is from the Lord.” (20:1) “Wine is a 
mocker, strong drink is raging : and whosoever is deceived thereby is not 
wise.” (3) “ It is an honor for a man to cease from strife : but every fool 
will be meddling,” (15) “ but the lips of knowledge are a precious jewel. ” 
(19) “ He that goeth about as a talebearer revealeth secrets ; therefore med- 
dle not with him that flattereth.” (21:3) “To do justice and judgment is 
more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice.” 

King David said, and I am of the same opinion, that to do justice, to 
do right, is more acceptable to God than all your sacrifices. To sit down and 
burn something does not hinder us from doing wrong or help us in doing 
right; neither does it hinder us from doing right or cause us to do wrong. I 
cannot see wherein it affects righteousness in the least. I can take a brother 
Israelite by the hand and say, “ Yes, brother, if you want to offer sacrifices 
do so; I see no harm.” Or, I can take a brother Christian by the hand and 
say to him likewise, “ Yes, brother, if you are truly a religious man it is un- 
necessary for you to offer sacrifices. It is the mind that God wants, not the 
burnt offering.” God wants a mind that can love to say and do all kinds of 
Godliness, and so love God. 

21:2. “ Every way of man is right in his own mind: but the Lord pon- 

dereth the hearts.” 

The spiritual heart of a man is the mind. God pondereth the mind. 

22:22. “Rob not the poor because - he is poor.” (24.) “Make no 
friendship with an angry man; and with a furious man thou shalt not go,” 
(25) “lest thou learn his ways, and get a snare to thy soul.” 

23:31. “Look not thou upon the wine;” (32) “it biteth like a serpent 
and stingeth like an adder. ” 

24:1. “Be not thou. . . . (as) evil men, neither desire to be with them,” 
(2) “for their heart studieth destruction, and their lips talk of mischief.” 

28:18. “Whosoever walketh uprightly shall be saved.” 

Isa. 1:16. “ Cease to do evil.” (17) “Learn to do well.” (50:1) “For 

your iniquities have ye sold j^ourselves, and for your transgressions is your 
mothers put away.” 

55:7. “Let the wicked forsake his way, and .... let him return unto 
the Lord.” 

The Bible tells us that God does not leave us, but we leave God. It 
also tells us that God does not come back to us, but we must come back to 
God. 

56:2. “Blessed is the man (or woman) that. . . .keepeth his hand from 
doing any evil.” 

The last two words of this verse includes every root of evil works ( ‘ ‘any 
evil”) that may be found in the very smallest of children. 

Our preachers tell us that the religion of the Israelites gave them no 
spiritual promises, but only earthly prosperity. But in using our own judg- 


382 


HOW ARE WE LED? 


ment in studying the Bible we find that to be a mistake. In those days they 
had to talk according to their knowledge and understanding. We do the same 
to-day. Our knowledge and understanding is better to-day than theirs was, 
so our talk is a little better than theirs. 

Jesus was continually showing spiritual objects by comparing them with 
earthly objects. We do the same to-day. We now compare God’s spiritual 
home as a king’s palace, and say He has a throne, as a king’s throne, and that 
our spirit will rest on that throne. They called it His throne the same as we; 
they also called it His holy mountain because they could compare it with an 
earthly mountain, to get an idea; and they had the spiritual promise of rest- 
ing upon that mountain, the same as we have the spiritual promise of resting 
upon that throne. And not only they had that promise, but all strangers 
also received an invitation with the same promise. 

56:6. “Also the sons (and daughters) of the strangers, that join them- 
selves to the Lord, to serve Him . , . .every one that keepeth the Sabbath from 
poluting it, and taketh hold of my covenant,” (7) “even them will I bring to 
my holy mountain .... Mine house shall be called a house of prayer for all 
people.” 

57 :20. “But the wicked are like the troubled sea when it cannot rest. ” 
(21) “There is no peace. . . .to the wicked.” 

We have no cause to feel as we do toward the true Israelites. Their 
religion was offered and extended to the stranger of the whole world. Some 
of the children of the devil crucified Jesus, but that gives no cause for cast- 
ing aside the true children of God. Some of the children of the devil that 
are in our churches to-day would crucify me if they could, because I say that 
our preachers tell us those were a prophecy of the works of Jesus; but it 
is their great cry that carries the day. I say that it was for the works of 
Christ! and that Christ was at work in Moses’ days, and in the days of Jesus, 
and in the present days precisely the same. 

59:2. “But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, 
(not God’s iniquities but }^our own iniquities have done this separating) and 
your sins have hid his face from you,” (3) “for your hands are defiled. . . . 
with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies, your tongues hath muttered per- 
verseness.” (4) “None calleth for justice, nor any pleadeth for truth; they 
trust in vanity, and speak lies. They conceive mischief, and bring forth 
iniquity.-” (6), “Their works are works of iniquity, and the acts of violence 
are in their hands.” (7) “Their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed 
innocent blood; their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity; wasting and destruc- 
tion are in their paths.” (8) “The way of peace they know not. ” 

A church member cannot mingle in the above and be a child of God. 
There are only two classes of people, the children of God and the children of 
the devil. There is no middle class. The children of God have their differ- 
ent names: The just, the righteous, the Godly, the Israelite, the Pharisee, 
the Christian and the moralist, yet they are all children of God; it makes no 
difference by what name you call them. The children of the devil also have 


WHO ARE THE HEATHEN? 


383 


many names: The heathen, the sinner, the ungodly, the unjust, the unright- 
eous, the wicked and the evil doers; it makes no difference what name you 
call them, they are not the children of God; they must be the children of the 
devil just the same. 

May I ask, is there any such among our nation? If so, shall we teach 
them where they stand, what they are and what names they wear? Shall we 
teach the heathen at home that they are the heathen? Or shall we go abroad 
to teach them? I’ll give my money to teach the home heathen first. Let 
Christianity be made perfect at home. Shall our nation take the advice of 
Jesus ? By casting “first the beam (heathen) out of thine own eye (nation), 
and then shalt thou see clearly to pull out the mote (heathen) that is in thy 
brother’s (Africa’s) eye.” 

65 :6. “ It is written before me .... I will not keep silence.” (7) ‘ ‘Your 

iniquities, and the iniquities of your fathers .... (and of your mothers) will I 
measure.” 

59:12. “ Our sins testify against us, for our transgressions are with us; 

and as for our iniquities we know them. ” 

How true this is. Every thought, act, word and deed is recorded in our 
own mind, and God knows our mind as well as we know it ourself ; and our 
own mind must testify against us when we meet God. Our lips can deny 
them, but our mind cannot. Our lips will not have the power to deny them 
before God, and our mind must testify against us. Our own mind tells us 
whether we are righteous people or whether we are what Noah Webster terms 
heathens. Webster says, “Heathen: a rude, illiterate person.” A rude 
or illiterate person is a person untaught. Shall we not urge our mothers 
more earnestly to teach their children righteousness, that they may shun all 
of those names that the children of the devil bear. Bo this work yourself. 
Bo not leave it for your neighbor, your Sunday-school teacher or your preacher 
to do; for she that leave th her work for her neighbor to do never gets it 
done. 

Jere. 5:26. “For among my people are found wicked men (and women): 
they lay in wait, as he that setteth snares : they set a trap, they catch men” (and 
women; yes, they even catch boys and girls. The children of the devil of 
the present day, catch men, women and children.) (27) “As a cage is full 
of birds, so is their house full of deceit.” (28) “They judge not of the 
cause ... .of the fatherless. . . .and the right of the needy ” (7 :3) “Amend 

your ways and your doings.” (4) “Trust ye not in lying words” (5), “for 
if ye thoroughly amend your ways and your doings: if ye thoroughly execute 
judgment between a man and his (companion) (6) “if ye oppress not the 
stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, and shed not innocent blood .... 
neither walk after other Gods to your hurt/’ (7) “Then will I cause you to 
dwell in this place” (heaven). 

God was talking to his children, and of spiritual happiness, and the 
place that He was talking of was a spiritual place (heaven). 


384 


HOW ARE WE LED? 


The Jews claimed that they, and they alone were God’s children: we 
have got only the Jewish record; what do we know about others outside of 
the Jewish nation. The Catholics claim that they and they alone are God’s 
children: if we were to take the Catholic records, and that alone, what would 
we know about the Protestant churches? As we pass through the Old Testa- 
ment, we find God’s children among other people, and in other nations. They 
could not dwell in Jerusalem : yet they were entitled to a seat on God’s holy 
mountain. 

The wise men from the east, that came to see the young child ; they were 
God’s children. Job was one of God’s children, yet he was in the land of 
Uz. The Jesus that we find in the books of the apocrypha, and his grand- 
father bearing the same name, ‘‘Jesus,” and many others found there, they 
were God’s children, and in another country: All were to receive a seat on 
God’s holy mountain. Though not a word of those people is found in the 
Jewish records, yet they are God’s children. And when God said, “the sons 
of the stranger that join themselves to the Lord,” that included every person 
on the face of the earth. And to-day no person on the face of the earth is 
included in God’s children, who have separated themselves from the Lord; 
who will not join themselves to the Lord, to do His will. Some outside of any 
church have joined themselves to the Lord, and are practicing all good morals. 
They are like the righteous people outside of the Jewish nation; they are 
children of God, though they do not know it. But God knows them, and 
God will take them in. 

But God says to those who are not his children (7 :8) ‘ ‘ye trust in lying 
words.” (9) “Will ye steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely” 
(10) “and come and stand before me in this house which is called by my 
name?” (Do we find any to-day who do any of those things, and then go and 
stand before God in His church? Are they the ones that this scripture is 
addressing to-day?) And (11) “is this house, which is called by my name, 
become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, even I have seen it, saith 
the Lord.” (23) “This thing commanded I them, saying, obey my voice, and 
I will be your God, and ye shall be my people: and walk ye in all the ways 

that I have commanded you. ” (24) “But they harkened not but walked 

in the counsels and in the imagination of their evil heart.” (26) “They did 
worse than their f athers’' (28) ‘ ‘that obeyeth not the voice of the Lord 
their God, nor receiveth correction: truth is perished, and is cut off from 
their mouths, ” (30) “for. . . . (they) have done evil in my sight saith the Lord.” 

Are there any in our churches that hath done evil (backslidden) in the sight 
of God? — any whom He claims not to be His children? If so, they are the 
very ones that we want to help us. They are the ones who know that their 
spiritual desire is to gain an interest in heaven, whilst their carnal desire over- 
powers them, and they cannot conquer it. They are the ones that can see that 
if their carnal desire had been conquered in its infancy, they could govern it 
now. We don’t want to do as they do, but we want them to teach the 
mothers how to raise their children. 


THE HEART IS THE MIND. 


3S5 


8:5. “Why then is this people. . . . slidden 'back by a perpetual back- 
sliding? they hold fast deceit, they refuse to return.” How do ye say. . . . 
the law of the Lord is with us.” 

Am I right in saying, in order to do away with the top, we must do away 
with the little hidden roots? Am I right in saying that it is easier to forcibly 
grub out the roots of a small tree, than a large one? Am I right in saying 
that the time to conquer the carnal desire is when it is small enough that 
mothers can conquer it? or shall we wait until it is large enough that whole 
nations cannot conquer it, without taking life? I ask righteous judgment 
to answer my questions after reflecting upon the carnal desire that has led 
(10) “everyone from the least even unto the greatest .... to covetousness, 
from the prophets even unto the priests everyone dealeth falsely.” (12) 
“Were they ashamed when they had committed abominations?” (9:3) “And 
they bend their tongues like their bows for lies: but they are not valiant for 
the truth upon the earth; for they proceed from evil to evil.” (5) “And they 
will deceive every one his neighbor .... and weary themselves to commit 
iniquity.” (8) Their tongue is as an arrow shot out; it speaketh deceit:” 

The spiritual heart is the mind: in the next verse I will change the word 
“heart” to the word “mind.” 

17 :9. “The mind is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; 
who can know it? (22:10) Weep ye not for the dead. . . .but weep sore for 
him that goeth away.” (13) “Woe unto him that buildeth his house by un- 
righteousness.” (29:23) “I know, and am a witness, saith the Lord.” 

When we come before the great judgment bar we will all know that 
God is eye witness to every word and deed committed on this earth. 


CHAPTER XXXVIII. 


By what name would you rather he called ? Priests’ lips should seek God’s law. 
Why should not I be crucified ? What God said through the lips of Ezekiel 
about the backslider. White children were sold in Iowa. What were the com- 
mandments that Jesus gave us? Where did they originate ? Was Christ a 
foot-washer ? If so, who fills His place to-day ? What about the holy kiss ? 
Suffer the little children to come unto me. A musical instrument in a 
church. 

Now we will turn to the book of the prophet Ezekiel. And I shall say 
by him as I have said by the others. If we say that every word of the Bible 
is the inspiration of God, in perfection, we say what no person can believe, 
using righteous judgment. If we say that the human mind is possessed of 
humane frailty, and that God inspires into a frail mind, and that the devil 
uses all possible means in his power to delude that mind, we tell the truth ; 
so I shall say this by the prophet Ezekiel. 


386 


HOW ARE WE LED? 


God said unto Ezekiel, warn the wicked ; and the root of wickedness 
lies in the heart of woman, and Ezekiel warned man, leaving woman to say 
that “ the Bible does not tell us to shun those sins, it says that man must 
shun them ; if we commit those sins Jesus will pardon us, for the Bible tells 
us so. ” I have heard the women make this remark, but it is not true ; the 
mind of woman is more acceptable to teaching than that of man, and the 
mind of woman is far more responsible for the crimes of the world than that 
of man. Our first mother led our first father into corruption ; she could not 
wait until he had defiled himself, but she must take the lead. Nature has 
given woman that leading power, and she must exercise that power. Potifer’s 
wife tried to seduce Joseph into evil, and because he respected righteousness 
she had him cast into prison for years, yet Ezekiel teaches men, not women, 
and says : (3:16) “ The word of the Lord came unto me, saying,” (18:5) 

“ If a man be just and do that which is lawful and right. ” (9) “He is just, he 
shall surely live. (Ezekiel says “He,” I say “he or she,”) (18:8) “that 
hath. . . .executed true judgment between man and man (and between com- 
panions) (9) “ hath kept my judgments, to deal truly ... .he (or she) shall 
truly live,” (the spiritual life with God.) (10) “If he beget a son that is 
a robber, a shedder of blood, and that doeth the like to any one of those 
things,” (13) “ shall he then live ? He shall not live: he hath done all 
these abominations : he shall surely die. ” 

This death and life in God’s inspiration, was spiritual death and life — 
or separation and unity : and the very moment that they violated God’s 
word their mind was separated from God’s path, therefore they entered into 
spiritual death, and fulfilled that prophecy, whether mortal man ever knew 
anything of their works or not. But God was misunderstood, they supposed 
that God intended mortal death, so they resorted to stoning to death. 

(18:14) “If he beget a son that seeth all his father’s sins which he 
hath done, and considereth, and doeth not such like,” (17) “he shall not 
die for the iniquity of his father.” (18) “As for his father, because he. . . . 
did that which is not good among his people, lo, even he shall die in his 
iniquity.” (19) “ Yet say ye, why? does not the son bear the iniquity of 
the father ? When the son hath done that which is lawful and right . . . . he 
shall surely live.” (20) “The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall 
not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity 
of the son ; the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the 
wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him.” (21) “ But if the wicked will 
turn from all his sins that he hath committed .... and do that which is law- 
ful and right, he shall surely live, he shall not die.” 

It appears that the Jews had a tradition — or national law, that, if a 
man sinned his whole family should be put to death : Ezekiel is here teaching 
them that that is wrong. J ust so with the spirit ; the father, or even the 
mother, though the child inherits her disposition, yet she will commit one sin, 
and the child commit another, each must account for their own sins. Or the 
child may be born and raised in sin, or separation from righteousness, and 


USE RIGHTEOUS JUDGMENT. 


387 


the child may return and unite its mind with Godly words and works, and 
such returning is a restoration or resurrection. So that mind that has 
returned and restored itself to godliness has entered into first resurrection; 
and if steadfast in the first resurrection, it shall enter into the great resur- 
rection, when it passes into eternity; which is final and forever. 

23. “Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked shall die? saith the 
Lord God, and not that he should return from his ways, and live?” 

How does this verse agree with the saying of the preachers, that God 
entered into a covenant that He would create such an earth, inhabit it with 
people, choose a few of them for heaven, and send the rest to hell regard- 
less of their works or inclinations? Let us use righteous judgment. 

24. “But when the righteous turneth away from his righteousness, and 
commiteth iniquity .... shall he live? .... In his sins that he hath sinned, in 
them shall he die.” (25) “Yet ye say, the way of the Lord is not 
equal. ” 

Those that teach us that God made a covenant before the creation that 
He would create such an earth, inhabit it with people, fore-ordain a certain 
number to heaven, and predestine the remainder to hell, do not they teach 
us that his way is not equal? Do not they conflict with righteous judgment 
and with the Bible? Is not their teachings newer than the New Testament? 
Are not their teachings outside of the doctrine of Jesus? Can they enter the 
kingdom of heaven? 

26. “When a righteous man (or woman) turneth away from his (or 
her) righteousness, and commit iniquity, and dieth in them; for (their). . . . 
iniquity w r hich (they) .... hath done shall .... (they) die (a spiritual death). 
(27) “Again when the wicked man (or woman) turneth away from his (or 
her) wickedness that he (or she) hath committed, and doeth that w r hich is law- 
ful and right .... (they) shall save (their) soul. ” (28) 1 ‘ Because .... (they) con- 
sidered, and turneth away from all. . . . (their) transgressions that. . . . (they) 
hath committed, (they) .... shall surely live.” (29) “Yet saith the. . . . (sin- 
ners) the way of the Lord is not equal.” 

Ezekiel was talking to the house of Israel, but what constituted the 
house of Israel ? The children of God constituted the house of Israel. 
The Jews considered that they all belonged to the house of Israel; yet they 
did not, they all belonged to the Jewish nation. But, spiritually, God con- 
sidered his children to constitute the house of Israel. Among the Jews were 
many hypocrites — Sadducees, unrighteous people — they could not be God’s 
children, even though they claimed that they were ; and those were the ones 
that God was talking to ; and Ezekiel called them the house of Israel. 

30. “ Therefore I will judge you .... every one according to his (or her) 
ways, saith the Lord God. Repent and return yourselves from all your trans- 
gressions; so iniquity shall not be your ruin” (32), “for I have no pleasure 
in the death of him that dieth (the spiritual death), saith the Lord God. 
Wherefore turn yourselves and, live ye.” 

22:29. “The people of the land have used oppression and exercised 


3S8 


HOW ARE WE LEI)? 


robbery, and have vexed the poor and needy: yea, they have oppressed the 
stranger wrongfully.” 

Are there any in our churches to-day who have oppressed the stranger 
wrongfully? Who have vexed the poor and needy? If so, are they God’s 
children, even though they belong to the house of prayer? 

Zeph. 3:4. ‘ ‘ Her priests have polluted the sanctuary ; they have done 

violence to the law.” 

Our preachers say that “the law is abolished, dead and laid aside.” 
Have they done violence to the law ? 

Sam. 4:13. “For the sins of her prophets, and the iniquity of her 
priests” (14), “they have wandered as blind men in the streets.” 

Ezek. 22:26. “Her priests have violated my law, and have profaned 
mine holy things: they have put no difference between the holy and the pro- 
fane, neither have they shewed difference between the unclean and the clean, 
and have hid their eyes from my Sabbaths, and I am profaned among them.” 

When our preachers put the holy and profane into a church together, 
and teach them that their every day sins and shortcomings are not sins, that 
Jesus takes them all on his shoulders if we only have the right kind of faith; 
in so teaching they make “no difference between the holy and profane.” 
When they take their members into the church at birth, and hold them there 
until death, regardless of their words or works, they make no difference be- 
tween the clean and the unclean. When they reject Saturday and keep Sun- 
day they have hid their eyes from God’s Sabbath. When they teach us that 
Jesus stands between them and God, and that God knows nothing about us 
except what Jesus tell him, God is profaned among them. When our preach- 
ers are fully condemned by the words of the Old Testament forgoing just 
what the preachers did in those days, why should not they tell us that the 
Old Testament is abolished, dead and laid aside ? 

Mat. 2:7. “Priests’ lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek 
the law.” (8) “But ye are departed out of the way; ye have caused many 
to stumble at the law.” 

There were many, many, many among the Jews, both priests and mem- 
bers, that were sinners, hypocrits, heathens, for there were only two classes 
of people, the children of God and the children of the devil — heathen. By 
which of the two last names would you rather be called ? 

We must remember that they had good, true children of God in those 
days, and we also have good, true children of God to-day; but those who 
are studying upon what they shall omit saying for fear of offending some 
one, those who teach us that our every-day sins and shortcomings are no 
sins to the believer, they cannot be trying to profit righteousness, but must 
be trying to wheedle all into the church that they can, to make their church 
stronger and to gain a higher salary. I condemn no living soul, but I show 
those things to everybody, leaving righteous judgment to exercise; and leav- 
ing the mind of the guilty to condemn themselves; which condemnation 
sooner or later must come to them, and it is the most bitter condemnation 


BACKSLIDEKS. 


389 


that can be experienced. Jesus opened, read and expounded the law and 
the prophets from this same book, and the priests and the people whose own 
minds condemned themselves, crucified Jesus for so doing. The records of 
Jesus, and in fact all the writings of the apostles, show us that their whole 
foundation was the Old Testament, which they were continually expounding. 
When we remember how they crucified Him, shall I expect the same fate? 
When I say that I have searched the New Testament from cover to cover, 
when I say that Jesus left nothing but the Old Testament for our guide, 
when I say that love was commanded in the days of Moses, when I say that 
baptism was practiced in the days of Moses, under the old name, and when 
I say that baptism was practiced under the new name before Jesus began 
preaching or baptizing, when I show all of those things to the world, is it any 
wonder that they should want me out of their midst? And when I show them 
that the Old Testament is principally all the scriptural teachings that we get, 
and when I say that the Old Testament is filled with words of instruction, 
instructing us what to do and what not to do, to become a true child of God; 
and when I show them that Jesus did not countermand one righteous word of 
the Old Testament, when I show them that Jesus did not give one new com- 
mand, but upheld the ones already given, when I show that Jesus’ whole 
attention was given to teaching the people to obey those commands of their 
own free will, not waiting for civil law to compel them to. Will they look 
at those things and use righteous judgment ? or will they still condemn me ? 

Now let us see what God said to the backsliders after they have once 
been received into the first resurrection and received the promise of eternal 
life. But we must remember that persons who have repented of their sins 
and have joined a church, then, after they have turned back into sin again, 
though their brethren know not of their sins and they have not yet stepped 
out of the church, yet they are backsliders, and this word of God is directed 
expressly to them. Those who have left off their sins and have truly become 
children of God, and then begin sinning anew, their own mind will tell them 
that they are backsliders before any other living soul knows it. 

Ezek. 33:13. “When I shall say to the righteous that he shall surely 
live, if he trust to his own righteousness, and commit iniquity .... for his 
iniquity .... he shall die.” (14) “Again, when I say unto the wicked, thou 
ehalt surely die ; if he turn from his sin and do that which is lawful and 
right” (15), “he shall surely live.” (17) “Yet the children of thy people 
sa} r , the way of the Lord is not equal : but as for them, their way is not 
equal.” (19) “If the wicked turn from his wickedness, and do that which is 
lawful and right, he shall live thereby. ” (20) “lwill judge you, everyone 
after his ways. ” 

Deut. 13.18. “When thou shalt harken to the voice of the Lord thy 
God, to keep all His commandments .... to do that which is right in the eyes 
of the Lord thy God,” (14.1) “ye are the children of the Lord your God.” 

Hosea 7:2. “ They consider not. . . .that I remember all their wicked- 

ness: now their own doings have set them about; they are before my face. ” 


390 


HOW ARE WE LED? 


(14) “ They assemble themselves for com and wine, and they rebel against 
me. ” 

Joel 1:5. “Awake ye drunkards, and weep; and howl, all ye drinkers 
of wine.” (2:13) “And rend your hearts, and not your garments; and turn 
unto the Lord your God/’ 

Amos 5:12. “ For I know your manifold transgressions and your mighty 

sins.” (14) “ Seek good and not evil, that ye may live. ” (15) “Hate the 
evil and love the good. ” * 

The way to love God is to love good ; the way to hate the devil is to hate 

evil. 

Micah 6:8. “What doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and 
to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?” (10) “Are there yet the 
treasures of wickedness in the house of the wicked, and the scant measure 
that is abominable?” (11) “Shall I count them pure, with the wicked bal- 
ances, and with the bag of deceitful weights?” (12) “For the rich men 
thereof are full of violence, and the inhabitants thereof have spoken lies, 
and their tongue is deceitful.” 

Zech. 7:9. “Execute true judgment, and show mercy and compas- 
sion.” (10) “Oppress not the widow, nor the fatherless, the stranger nor the 
poor.” 

As we have searched the Bible from cover to cover, and as we have 
found the Old Testament to be filled with words of instinction, instructing us 
that we have something to do on our own part, in order to live a religious 
life — a Christian life, and as it particular^ points out so many different 
things that we are to do, or our sins will be upon us, and pointing out so 
many evil deeds that we shall omit doing, and the prattling tongue also : and 
as the New Testament so plainly tells us that Jesus and his apostles were 
continually citing us to those very scriptures for instructions: and that the 
DIRECT INSTRUCTIONS FROM THEM, WAS, THAT WE OBEY THE RIGHTEOUSNESS 

of the Old Testament, of our own free will, not waiting the com- 
pulsion of civil law — not feeling themselves under the compulsive law, but 
under free will. Any person talking right and doing right, under free will 
— not under compulsive law, is walking in the doctrine of Jesus Christ, re- 
gardless of faith or creed — church or priest: and they shall receive the re- 
ward that Jesus promised them. 

After looking at all those things in this light, I ask : can anyone say 
that the Old Testament is “annulled, abolished, dead and laid aside?” 

I admit that Moses compelled his people to live a righteous life. I 
admit that Jesus taught us to live a righteous life of our own free will. I am 
here to testify that all the difference between the teachings of Moses and the 
teachings of Jesus was the compulsory works and the works of free will. 
And I further admit, that, the instructions of Moses does not point out the 
little roots and fibres of evil, but compels them to do righteously after 
those small roots and fibres had grown to become large trees. 

Now, I ask, after looking upon the compulsive work of Moses, also of 


FALSE DOCTRINES OF PRIESTS. 


391 


Constantine: Did not they make many hypocrites? and is not there still many 
hypocrites ? And then may I ask if, after having practiced this free-will 
doctrine for near nineteen hundred years, have not we failed to bring it into 
perfection ? Now, as God has given us — as God has made nature so that 
nature gives us — and as civil law gives all children to their parents as the 
parents’ property until the child becomes old enough to exercise good judg- 
ment. 

I once heard of an Orphans’ Home in New York being overstocked with 
children. It was the custom of the Home to give away those children. But 
this being directly after the war of the rebellion, there were more orphans 
than there were homes for them, and there was no law to furnish money to 
give them transportation. So the officers of the Home put those children onto 
the cars and took them to Iowa, and sold them for money enough to pay 
their transportation. Now, I ask, after those people had bought those chil- 
dren, and had paid their money for them, were not those children the prop- 
erty of those purchasers, until age gave them their freedom ? If those chil- 
dren were the property of those purchasers, are not all children still more 
the property of their own parents, to use, to train, to cultivate, and to com- 
pel, than those children were ? 

After Moses compelled his people for hundreds of years to lay aside 
grown iniquities and take up uncultivated righteousness, and made a failure 
of it; telling them that his compulsion made them religious people, when they 
really were not. And after nineteen hundred years’ practice of this free- 
will righteousness, with unsatisfactory success, and as God — nature — and 
civil law has made the child the property of the parent, to guide, cultivate, 
educate, and to compel! shall we not again resort to compulsion, but on a 
new plan ? Let us compel our children to live a righteous life whilst the^ 
are our property. Let us teach them that this compulsion does not make 
Christians of them, but it makes them willingly submissive to our will. Then 
let us teach them that they are fit subjects to take up the free will practice, 
and walk in the doctrine of Jesus Christ. By this we “suffer little children 
to come unto Christ, and forbid them not. ” 

Again I ask : How can any person say that they are walking in the doc- 
trine of Jesus when they close the book that He opened? When they annul 
the writings that He so greatly expounded? Would not we do far better 
to do as Jesus did? To sift those writings through a righteous judgment and 
expound them as Jesus expounded them? 

They tell us that Jesus did away with all the old commands and gave us 
two new ones, and that those two are all that we are to recognize. Let us 
see where those two commands originated, and then let us amend them. 
One of those commandments is love and the other is baptism. 

Moses said (Josh. 22:5), “Love the Lord your God.. ..with all your 
heart and with all your soul.” (Matt. 22:37) “Jesus said.... Love the 
Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy 


392 


HOW ARE WE LED? 


mind.” (Amended) Love all kinds of Godly words and works with all thy 
mind in every spot and place that you meet them. 

Moses said (Lev. 19:18), “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.” 
Jesus said (Matt. 22:39), “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.” 
(Amended.) Love thy companion as thyself. 

They tell me that I am not a Christian, not walking after the doctrine of 
Jesus, but only a moralist. I believe that if we could only have the words 
of Jesus in his sermons we would find him to be the greatest teacher of good 
morals ever on the face of the earth. 

Some tell us that if we are brethren we must wash each others’ feet. I 
say that if we keep our own feet washed and the feet of our children we do 
well. Let us examine the Bible for footwashing. 

Sam. 25:41. Abagail said, “Let thine handmaid be a servant to wash 
the feet.” 

2 Sam. 11:8. And David said to Uriah, “Go down to thy house and 
wash thy feet.” 

Luke 7 :38. She “began to wash his feet with tears, and did wipe them 
with the hairs of her head.” 

Fcot washing was practiced many years before Jesus was born, and still 
up to his date. Then Jesus washed His apostles’ feet as a parable, showing 
them some spiritual idea. Let us reflect a little on this. 

When He began to wash the disciples’ feet Peter said to Him (John 
13:6): “Lord, dost thou wash my feet?” (7) “Jesus answered. . . .what I 
do thou knowest not now, but thou shalt know hereafter.” (8) “Peter said 
.... thou shalt not wash my feet. Jesus answered him, If I wash thee not, 
thou hast no part with me.” 

The way that Jesus answered Peter shows us that He was washing their 
feet as a parable, to give them some spiritual idea. “ What I do thou know- 
est not now, but thou shalt know hereafter.” Now, as Jesus was so accus- 
tomed to giving some earthly views to the mortal eye and then bringing some 
spiritual view to the spiritual eye, so we will look at footwashing with our 
spiritual eye. But Peter goes on to say (9), ‘ * Lord, not my feet only but 
also my hands and my head.” (10) “Jesus saith to him, He that is 
washed needeth not save to wash his feet. ” 

Now how can we wash the feet of our spiritual being? In water? No; 
our spiritual feet cannot be washed in any earthly waters. Then can we wash 
our spiritual feet in the blood of Jesus? No; the mortal blood of Jesus that 
flowed on Calvary has dried up and drifted away nearly nineteen hundred years 
ago. And again, the mortal blood of Jesus was an earthly substance, and 
the feet of our spirit cannot be washed in any earthly substance. Then 
what can we wash our spiritual feet with? We can wash our spiritual feet in 
the true blood of Christ. What is the true blood of Christ? God is a great 
mind, and when a part of that mind dwelt in the body of Jesus that great 
mind was the true and living Christ. And as the mind plots, plans and ex- 
ecutes the words and the works, the true words and works of Jesus was the 


KEEP YOUR FEET CLEAN 


393 


true blood of that very Christ: Then how can we wash our spiritual feet in 
the true blood of Christ ? Drink that great mind into your own body, then 
you will have that great Christ in you to guide and direct your own ways and 
works ; then your own words and works will be the true blood of Christ in 
which your spiritual feet must frequently be washed. How shall we know 
when our spiritual feet need washing? Jesus said, “If thou hast been 
washed, thou needst not, save wash thy feet. ” God has created a great path 
of righteousness, cleaner and whiter than snow, for every true Christian to 
walk in. If you have drank in of the great mind of God, and have quit 
your angry words and your evil works, and have turned to walking in this 
great path of righteousness, your spirit is washed. But after a person has 
been washed, if they walk on muddy roads their feet get dirty and need wash- 
ing again. After you have been washed and are walking in this righteous path, 
if you find yourself stealing your neighbor’s corn you are walking outside of 
this righteous path; your feet are dirty; wash them and step back into 
righteousness. If you find your words slandering your neighbor you are 
walking outside of this righteous path; your feet are dirty; wash your feet 
and step back into righteousness. If you find yourself cursing and swear- 
ing, or brutally misusing your team, dog, or anything else that may be in 
your power, you are walking on muddy roads; your feet are dirty; wash your 
feet and get back into righteousness. If you find your tongue dealing out 
hellfire to your companion, or to any other member of the home circle, you 
are walking in the mud ; your spiritual feet are dirty ; wash your feet and 
get back into the righteous path, which is cleaner and whiter than snow. If 
you find yourself doing anything that your own mind tells you is wrong in 
the eyes of God, you are walking in the mud, your spiritual feet are dirty, 
you can never enter into heaven with dirty feet, you must wash your own 
feet, or rather that very Christ that dwells in your own bosom must wash 
your spiritual feet, or they must go unwashed, and so make your final abode 
in hell, for 

God never forces to heaven or hell, 

Your mind is free while here you dwell; 

You must keep yourself both clean and white, 

Or abide in hell’s eternal night. 

If you love your child it must be its mind that you love; if you love its 
mind you must love its spirit; therefore you should keep its little spiritual 
feet washed until it is old enough to do that washing itself by compelling it 
to bridle its little tongue and guide its hand from all evil. 

If you keep your feet washed in this way it is Christ that washes them, 
and it is the very same Christ — mind of God — that dwelt in the body of 
Jesus. 

How many there are that lament that they could not have been on earth 
and been acquainted with Christ in his days. Even Robert Ingersoll made 
that expression. If Ingersoll is a true moralist, and if he only knew that 


394 


HOW AKE WE LED? 


Christ was the greatest teacher of good morals that ever visited the face of 
the earth, he could understand that to-day he is acquainted with Christ. 

Others tell us that we ought to greet each other with the holy kiss. As 
Paul pronounced kissing a holy act, he said: “Greet all the brethren with 
a holy kiss.” Rom. 16:16; Cor. 16:20; 2 Cor. 13:12, and 1 Thess. 5.26. 
Peter also charged us to “ Greet .... one another with a kiss of charity. ” 
Pet. 5:14. 

As for me, I could kiss little children with pleasure ; also many of the 
women, but as for the men, it would make me heart sick, or at least my own 
mind would sicken me when I drew near to kiss some men, especially on a 
cold day when I drew near to kiss a heavy mustache bearing an icicle com- 
posed of tobacco spit and 

We find the word “kiss ” more than fourteen times in the Bible, but not 
once do we find it commanded in the sermons of Jesus. Let us look in the 
Old Testament, and we do not find that we are commanded to kiss one 
another, but we find the act of kissing to be a treacherous act. “Joab said 
to Amasa, art thou in health, my brother? And Joab took Amasa by the 
beard with the right hand to kiss him. But Amasa took no heed of the 
sword that was in Joab’s hand; so he smote him therewith in the fifth rib. . . . 
and he died.” — 2 Sam. 20:9, 10. Then we also find kissing to be used hypo- 
critically, as Absalom “put forth his hand, and took him, and kissed him 
.... so Absalom stole the hearts of the men of Israel.” — 2 Sam. 15:5, 6. 
Then we find kissing to be a betraying sign, for “Judas. . . .drew near unto 
Jesus to kiss him,”. . . . “saying, whomsoever I shall kiss, that same is he;, 
take him, and lead him away safely.” — Mark 14:44; Luke 22:47. Now let 
me ask one question. If we kiss our brethren every time we meet them, that 
does not aid us in doing right or debar us from doing wrong, neither does it 
cause us to do wrong or hinder us from doing right; so I ask, wherein does 
it affect righteousness in any way, either for or against ? 

“ Suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid them not.” Let us 
look a little at this. Is it a possible thing, at the present day, to let our lit- 
tle children go to Jesus? Can we send our little children to Jesus at Jerusa- 
lem? When they would get there could they find Jesus, who has been dead 
nearly nineteen hundred years? No. This was a command of Jesus, and 
what shall we do? Let us look at these words with a spiritual eye. How 
can we look at this thing spiritually? By using our own judgment. “Suffer 
the little children to come unto me.” Those were the words of God. God 
was Christ and dwelt in the body of Jesus; and Christ spoke those words 
through the lips of J esus. How can we suffer the little children to come unto 
Christ — unto God? There is only one way to suffer the little children to come 
unto God — unto Christ, and that way is to suffer the little children to come 
unto Godliness; to come unto Godly words, Godly deeds and Godly actions in 
word and deed. We find some children who, by nature, come unto Christ in 
a great measure, but we forbid them, that they do not f ul ly r get to Christ. 
How do we forbid them of going to Christ? Just as some have forbidden 


WE ALL MUST DIE. 


395 


me ; by telling them that Christ is in heaven, by telling them that they are 
not Christians, they are moralists, and by telling them that none but those 
that walk in the doctrine of Jesus can get there, and then by giving them 
our own doctrine and telling them that that is the doctrine of Jesus. Be- 
cause they come to Godliness by nature we tell them that they are moralists, 
not Christians. But I tell them that Jesus was a moralist, Christianity was 
not known until after Jesus’ days. Israelitism had become so foul, and 
J esus, by nature, when a little child, came unto Christ by coming unto God' 
liness, by coming unto Godly words and Godly works, and at twelve years 
old He was found at His post. And when He came to years of maturity He 
was purer than His church, He was of better morals than His church, and 
He stepped outside of His church and began to teach His good morals pub- 
licly. 

It was while Christ was teach iug those morals in advance of the church 
that He said, “suffer the little children to come unto me.” And how shall 
we suffer our children to come unto Christ, or unto Godliness? How do we 
raise our corn? or how do we raise a tree? By first starting the root and by 
keeping it clean at the very root. How often do we see a spear of corn shoot 
up without the proper root? But what do we get? A small stalk, just 
enough to show that the seed was planted there. How often do we see the 
twig start up without the proper root? and what do we get there? A little 
scrawney bush, just enough to show that the seed was planted there. Just 
so, dear reader, with the tree of life, where the preacher puts the seed in 
your heart and fails to put there the proper root; Christianity springs up and 
shows that the seed has been planted there, but a little scrawney tree is what 
we get, which often dies out and leaves there a backslider. Then what can 
we do better than to teach our mothers to cultivate the root of morality in 
the minds of their infants that when they become of age the preacher can 
reap the golden harvest and “carry in the sheaves.” 

It is told of the Catholic priest that he said: “Give me the cultivation 
of your child until he is twelve years old ; then you may take him where you 
please, he will never depart from my training.” 

“ Suffer the little children to come unto me. ” The tree of life cannot 
grow except it has a root to nourish it, and if that root is not bred and born 
in their nature it must be put there by force if it ever gets there. Let us 
turn to the Old Testament. 

Prov. 22:6. “ Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he 

is old, he will not depart from it.” (29:15) “The rod and reproof give 
wisdom: but a child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame.” (23:13) 
“Withhold not correction from a child: for if thou beatest him with the rod 
he shall not die.” (The spiritual death.) 

We all must die the mortal death, but he or she that is kept in Godli- 
ness m infancy and youth will not depart from Godliness in later years. He 
that is persuaded to turn from wickedness in middle or old age, when they 
get mad, when they get drunk, or when they get out alone, they very often 


396 


HOW ARE WE LED? 


step back into wickedness again; because the root is not there to nourish the 
top. This root has to be put there by force ; though there are some that do 
turn and grow their tree of life in later years, but it is those whose minds are 
strong enough to compel nature to yield to righteous judgment. 

Micah. 7:14. “Feed thy people with thy rod.” (Prov. 10:13) “In 
the lips of him that hath understanding wisdom is found ; but a rod is for the 
back of him that is void of understanding.” 

In the asylums those that do not understand that it is better to obey the 
word of the officers often receive the rod before they will obey. But all 
children are void of understanding, and a light rod righteously dealt to them 
in infancy and youth will avoid this greater rod in confined life, or the gallows. 

26.3. “A whip for the horse, a bridle for the ass, and a rod for the 
fool’s back.” 

All children are more or less fools, and if permitted to grow up in their 
foolishness they grow into evil rather than good. The next verse says: 

22:15. “Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child; but the rod of 
correction shall drive it far from him ;” if the rod is properly used without 
anger in due season. 

13:24. (She) “that spareth .... (her) rod hateth .... (her) son; but. . . . 
(she) that loveth him chasteneth him betimes.” (29:15) “A child left to 
himself bringeth his mother to shame.” (3:12) “Whom the Lord loveth 
he correcteth. ” (20:11) “ Even a child is known by his doings.” 

Every child is known by its doings. I never go into a house where 
there are little children but what I look for the works of the children. A 
grown person will cover and hide their evil works, but a child will show its 
disobedience to the world. 

1:8. “My son, hear the instructions of thy father,” (9) “for they 
shall be an ornament of grace unto thy head.” (10) “If sinners entice thee, 
consent thou not.” 

Psalms 144:11. “Rid me, and deliver me f rom .... children whose 
mouth speaketh vanity, and their right hand is a right hand of falsehood.” 
(12) “ That our sons may be as plants grown up in their youth.” 

If you have learned your children to bridle their tongues you have con- 
quered many devils. 

Deut. 11 :18. “Lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul,” 
(19) “and ye shall teach them to your children, speaking of them when thou 
sitest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, when thou liest 
down, and when thou risest up.” (20) “And thou shalt write them upon the 
door posts of thine house, and upon thy gates.” 

How much, and how much, the Old Testament tells us to cultivate the 
minds of our children, and to drive foolishness out of their minds with a rod, 
and to put wisdom in its place. That is to say, drive the mind of the devil 
out of them with compulsion and cultivate the mind of God in its stead with 
mild, gentle and calm but positive commands. It tells us to keep those 
teachings uppermost in our minds, teaching them to our children at home, 


HE THAT 8PARETH THE ROD HATETH HIS SON. 


39? 


talking of them as we pass through our daily labors, write them down where 
our children cannot miss seeing them. Yet our preachers tell us to abolish, 
annul and lay aside such teachings. Because they are not found in the New 
Testament they are outside of Christianity and cannot enter heaven. 

It tells us that ‘ ‘ he that spareth the rod hateth his son ; but he that 
loveth him chasteneth him betimes.” How often is this hatred seen in the 
mothers, who say of their sons : ‘ ‘ Harry won’t mind a word that I say to 
him any more. I will be glad when he is gone out of my way.” 

How often do we find mothers who hate their children just because they 
themselves failed to do their part in compelling the child to obey their word 
when it was small. 

Jere. 9:20. “Hear the word of the Lord, 0 ye women, and let your 
ear receive the word of his mouth, and teach your daughters.” 

Mothers, teach your daughters the word of God from the book that is 
abolished and laid aside, for we cannot find them in the testated will. What 
Jesus said to us was not recorded in his testated will. 

The Old Testament tells us to teach our children constantly and forcibly, 
and to write down the words where they will see them daily. Yet it does not 
point us to the very roots, to plough out the evil and to cultivate the good. 
But I say that it is useless to let the weeds grow in your corn until they get 
their full growth, and then clean them out, thinking to get a full crop. 

Jesus said, ; £ Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them 
not; for of such is the kingdom of God.” What more He said of the chil- 
dren is not recorded, and for that reason I saj 7 that the apostles must have 
studied upon what they should omit saying for fear of offending some one. 
And I say that well they might stand in fear of offending others, for Jesus re- 
garded not this offence, but spoke the truth in all places, and for that reason 
those calling themselves the children of God crucified him ; and not only cruci- 
fied him, but punished and tried to put to death the followers of Jesus. And 
not only in those days, but all the way down through the dark ages the peo- 
ple calling themselves the children of God would crucify, would burn at the 
stake, or imprison for life any and all who would in any way advance any 
newness of righteousness ; and even to-day some claiming to be the children 
of God have inferred to me that the world would be better off without me, 
that I am more damage to the church than I am good. But the day has 
come that civil law will protect every person in trying to do righteously, and 
it is the duty of every person that wants to be a righteous teacher to avail 
themselves of the advantages of civil law and speak the truth regardless of 
offense, and to begin at the very finest root of all evil to undermine the great 
tree of destruction and build up righteousness, and so bring our little chil- 
dren unto Christ. 

To compel a child to live up to all kind of morality in infancy may be 
called a force-made moralist, but it makes them fit subjects for free-will 
Christianity in later years. While, to force a child into a church and compel 
it to live up to all the requirements of the church in church hours, and in 


398 


HOW ARE WE LED? 


everyday play or labor permit them to swear or violate good morals, such are 
orce-made Christians, and they are poor Christians. Still, force must be 
used, and such Christians are often forced to the gallows itself. 

I have been asked, “What do I think of a musical instrument in church?” 
I think of that just as I think of all other things that church members quar- 
rel over. A musical instrument in a church does not help any person in 
doing right in the eyes of God ; neither does it hinder any one from doing 
right. It does not cause any one to do wrong, nor keep any one from doing 
wrong. I cannot see wherein a musical instrument in a church affects right- 
eousness in the least, therefore if my church wanted an organ and I did not 
feel able to help pay for it, I could say that I could not help them, without 
making a great cry that it was out of place to have it there. But the harm 
is in the home circle. The church will divide into two parties, for and 
against having the instrument; companions will take sides, one on each side; 
the woman that marries a man marries his property, and she has it in her 
power to sign for an organ, regardless of the will of her husband, and so 
create a little hell upon earth in their home circle, and her church will up- 
hold her and tell her that she is a good Christian, Jesus will take all her sins 
upon his shoulders. Let our preachers constantly preach against such home 
sins, then an organ is all right in a church. 

Paul said, “ Greet one another with a holy kiss,” but I say there is but 
one holy kiss. We find a friendly kiss between brothers and sisters, between 
parents and children, between all friends and relatives, but the only holy kiss 
that exists is between companions; and that is a token of Christ love: And 
when that turns to a traitorous kiss, a deceitful kiss, or a betraying kiss, it is 
a true token of the devil, not of Christ. And Christ will never take that 
companion to heaven, though they may stand in the highest of Church pop- 
ularity and society. 

A Christian at home, in every-day life, makes the truest of Christians in 
the church; but a church Christian does not always make a true Christian at 
home. 


SUPPLEMENT TO PART THIRD. 


A Few Words for My Readers to Reflect Upon. 


The firm that has been doing my work is a religious firm. I am a Chris- 
tian, and every word that I have written I have written to show to the world 
that there is a reality in Christianity. But I ask every reader, what is Chris- 
tianity? And I ask every reader to carefully exercise your own judgment 
before answering my question. 

When I sent this firm the third part of my book to have them put it into 
book form they wrote me a letter telling me that my writings are blasphem- 
ous, unbecoming, unscriptural and wicked. As they have pointed out the 
things that I have written that are blasphemous and wicked, I will give my 
readers their letter, which will call attention to those remarks that I have 
made which are blasphemous and wicked. 


C. H. Sander 8, Lowell, Ind. 


Review and Herald, ) 
Battle Creek, Mich., July 7, 1898. ) 


My Old Friend — We were just about ready to take hold of your work, and in 
order to see how it was written, the nature of the contents, etc., it has all been 
read through. In doing this some things have been found which are a matter of 
great surprise, and which this office would not consent to becoming a party to 
placing such sentiments in book form unless certain sentences were wholly 
changed or entirely stricken out. 

This house would not print anything which goes against the Bible or which 
speaks of the Divine Being in an unbecoming or derogatory manner. Anything 
which is calculated to lower the Scriptures in the estimation of our fellow beings 
and which speaks lightly and irreverently of the One who has created us and 
who gives us all our blessings, we could not endorse by printing. 

In Part Third of your book there are several statements which seem very 
loose and quite blasphemous, namely: First, “Jesus was an old bachelor.” Sec- 
ond, “ God said to the devil, let us make man in our image.” Third. “ Let us pray 
to the devil to give up his hold.” Fourth, “With the exception of those few 
verses, we cannot call the New Testament Scripture.” Fifth, “Jesus said, ‘Fear 
him which, after he hath killed, hath power to cast into hell.’ This is the devil, 
and the devil alone.” 

The f oregoing are the expressions which are so unbecoming, unscriptural and 
wicked that they would have to be crossed out or completely changed, for the 
house will not put the above into book form without being revised. 

Yours in the fear and love of God, 

G. W. Amadon. 


Now, dear reader, in the body of his letter he tells me that my writings 
are blasphemous, unbecoming, unscriptural and wicked. In making these 

399 


400 


HOW ARE WE LED? 


statements he essentially confesses the very words that I have said. “The 
word scripture is generally thought to mean the writings that are found be- 
tween the lids of the Bible, and he expresses that idea in his letter, but the 
true meaning of the word is any writing that gives us good teachings, 
whether found in the Bible or elsewhere.” Then he condemns my writings 
and points out things which he says are blasphemous and wicked; but all 
that I ask is that my readers look at my remarks and use their own judg- 
ment. Is it wicked to speak the truth? Again I ask, if a person is better 
than yourself, if a person is in higher standing than yourself, is it wicked 
or blasphemous to speak the truth about that person? He says that I have 
called Jesus “an old bachelor,” and that my remark is blasphemous and 
wicked. He took my manuscript and changed it in every place where I had 
spoken of Jesus as a bachelor and wrote that “Jesus was an unmarried man.” 
He returned my manuscript in that shape, and I sent it to my second printer 
as he had fixed it. 

Now I earnestly ask, is it a disgrace for a man to live a bachelor’s life? 
The Bible teaches us that Jesus had arrived at middle age, yet was never 
married. He must have been an old bachelor. If it was a disgrace to live 
a bachelor’s life why did Jesus disgrace himself? If it is not a disgrace to 
live a bachelor’s life wherein is it blasphemous or wicked to speak the truth 
about Jesus Christ? If it is blasphemous or wicked to tell the truth about 
Jesus Christ, does this letter show true Christianity by sanctioning my state- 
ment that Jesus was a bachelor, yet trying to hide it from the eyes of the 
slow observer by covering it with the cloak of saying “an unmarried man?” 
I was speaking of matrimony. Had I been speaking of college literature I 
could have called Him a bachelor there, for the New Testament teaches us 
that He was not a college literate, but of high cognition through the use of 
self-judgment; fully depending upon what God put into his mouth to say. 

The next thing that he points out in his letter as blasphemous or wicked 
is that I said that at the creation ‘ ‘ God said to the devil, let us make man in 
our own image. ” Again I ask my readers to use their own judgment. There 
is nothing that equals good judgment. If God had been talking to Christ 
He would have said, I will make man in my own image , for God was Christ and 

Christ was God. Before the creation there were but two beings God, or 

Christ, and the devil. If God said w?e, or us, or our image He must have 
been talking to the devil, for at that time there was no other. 

Their teachings are that “God and Jesus Christ are one. Their teach- 
ings are that when God was talking to Christ He was talking to Himself, and 
thus their teachings are that God soliloquized ; but they give it under the 
cloak of soft words, that it may not be called blasphemous or wicked. When 
I say that God was soliloquizing I say it in plain words (God talked to Him- 
self), then the most ignorant can understand my meaning. Yet my meaning 
is no more corrupt, no more blasphemous or wicked, than the meaning of 
those who cover it with a cloak of smooth words. 

The next sentence that this letter quotes is, ‘ ‘ Let us pray to the devil 


SUPPLEMENT TO PART THIRD. 


401 


to give up his hold.” I say that God and the devil are two separate beings. 
And when I say that God is purity, and that the devil is pollution in all 
works and in all places, I speak higher of God than the Christians themselves 
do. They say that I am not a Christian, but only a moralist; yet, when I 
say that God or Christ does not the work that is allotted to the devil to do, 
when I say that God or Christ is not to be feared, I esteem God and Christ 
higher than the Christians themselves esteem Him. When I say that God 
created the mind of man, woman and child perfectly free to choose for them- 
selves whether they will serve God or serve the devil, and when I say that 
after man or woman has chosen to serve the devil the devil guides and in- 
fluences their words and works, and holds a great power over the nature of 
that man or woman; when I say, ask the devil to release his power do I blas- 
pheme God? Am I wicked when I say that God does not the works of 
the devil, when I say that God does not guide the human mind that is led 
into all sorts of corruption, do I not hold God’s word and works more pure 
and clean than the Christians themselves hold it ? 

The next sentence that this letter calls wicked or blasphemous is, “With 
the exception of those verses we cannot call the New Testament Scripture.” 
I claim that true Scripture is any piece of writing that teaches the human 
being to practice good words and good works. Am I blasphemous and 
wicked in sa} T ing that such writings are from God, and not from the devil ? 
Am I blasphemous and wicked in showing the world that the writings that 
tell us that Jesus walked from place to place, that Jesus rode on a ship, that 
Jesus healed the sick, that Jesus was crucified, that Paul was a preacher, 
that Paul was a tent maker, that Paul was arrested, etc. , are not Scripture 
but records? Those things are not Scripture which do not teach us to prac- 
tice good words and good works, and those records do not teach us any prac- 
tice whatever. Am I blasphemous and wicked in teaching you that Christ 
taught us to practice good words and good works ? They call me a moralist, 
not a Christian; yet, I hold the true scriptures — the true teachings of Christ 
(God) — more clean, more pure, more sacred than the Christians hold it. 
Have I the same right to think, or to express my thoughts that the Christian 
has ? 

Then he closes his criticising by quoting my words: “ Jesus said, 
‘Fear him which after he hath killed, hath power to cast into hell. ’ This is 
the devil, and the devil alone. ” Now I ask the reader that exercises good 
judgment: Who shall we fear in this life, the men that possess the mind of 
God, and practice and teach good words and good works, or the man that 
possesses the mind of the devil, who practices and teaches all kinds of cor- 
ruption ? If we are to fear the mind of the devil on this earth, shall we not 
fear the very same devil through all eternity ? I say fear the one that does 
the corrupt work : But fear not the God which is loving kindness. 

This letter has pointed' out my statements claiming them to be blas- 
phemous and wicked; yet they cannot point out one sentence, wherein I 
have falsely made a statement. 


402 


HOW ARE WE LED? 


I will now leave my readers to answer one more question : Am I blas- 
phemous or wicked in trying to teach our mothers how to raise their chil- 
dren, that they may possess the true mind of God? 

There shall no dishonor lie 

Upon my head whilst it is gray ; 

Love shall watch my fading eye, 

And smooth the path of my decay 




k 




I 


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I 













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* 
















- 


-104 























PREFACE TO PART FOUR. 

I will open this part of my book with a very few words. What the con- 
tents will be I cannot tell. What I have already written I will have printed 
now, and leave it open that I may add more to it at any time, and hope that 
some one will take it up and add more to it after I have passed away. Asking 
is praying : All that I ask is that they teach and urge the mothers to train and 
raise their children in perfect obedience to all good morals, in their infancy. 
Always omitting the use of hellfire in the home circle, and immorality of word 
or work in every day labour. 

I don’t make this prayer to God ; but to the mothers themselves, for the 
express benefit of their own happiness and the happiness of their own children ; 
both in this world and in the world to come. For no father on earth will 
teach his child disobedience in contrariness to the teachings of the mother. 
He may not aid the mother in teaching her child obedience, but, if she im- 
prints a disposition of obedience in the mind of her child, it will ever remain 
there. 


40 ? 


CONTEXTS 


CHAPTER I. 

Neighbors and friends teach your children disobedience. Mothers should not be 
afraid to say to their friends: — Let my child obey me. Men, even sitting 
upon the jury at law, will sympathize with vileness. The vial of morality, 
and the vial of Christianity. 

CHAPTER II. 

Wash them and make them whiter than snow, and then dress them equally. 
Jesus mingled with the sinners. The sportsman that joined the church. Why 
did the religious people hate J esus? 

CHAPTER III. 

In some places the words of the bible does not mean what the same words mean 
in our present language. The old birth days are lost. What constitutes the 
Holy Ghost? What constitutes Christ? When were they united with God, — ' 
the three in one? 

CHAPTER IV. 

Jesus’ sermon on the mount. Why should we not teach our mothers? What 
does education do? What obscured ideas. 

CHAPTER V. 

My old friend, the infidel. Why he speaks well of different church members. 
My son’s visit. His Sunday-school quarterlies. Bible records. I laughed and 
the world laughed with me. The public opinion. The second infidel. 

CHAPTER VI. 

My son’s visit. His upbraiding me. I laughed and the world laughed with me. 

I cried, but the world cried not. Two Sunday-school quarterlies. 

CHAPTER VII. 

Another infidel. The books of the Apocrypha. The different degrees in 
heathenism. How many degrees in Christianity? Who teaches the different 
degrees in heathenism? 

CHAPTER VIII. 

Talmage’s sermon. The young man’s questions. 

CHAPTER IX. 

Rev. J , information as to what constitutes a Christian. First: Morality. 

Second: The keeping of the Sabbath day. 'Third: Spread the gospel among 
the heathens. Pull the beam out of thine own eye — clean the heathenism 
out of thine own nation. Fourth: To confess Jesus Christ to be the son of 
God. Fifth: Immersion. Sixth: Taking sacrament. 


HOW ARE WE LED? 


CONTENTS. 

* CHAPTER X. 

Page. 

The Children of the Poor. The Magic Lantern. Children’s Training. Israel- 
ite and Christian. Father and Mother Died of Grief 488 

CHAPTER XI. 

Second Chart of the Great Gulf of Mortal Life. Examining the Protestant 
Churches. Mothers should take more Interest in Preparing the Spirit of 
their Daughters for Heaven than they can take in their own Spirit 494 

CHAPTER XII. 

What is Baptism For? The Baptism of the Holy Ghost. Do the Preachers 

Tell Us All about the Bible? 499 

CHAPTER XIII. 

Preaching Funeral Sermons. God Withdraws Nothing from Men, but We, or 

the Devil that is in Us, Withdraw from God 50S 

CHAPTER XIV. 

The Truth Seeker • 520 

CHAPTER XV. 

The Greatest Question Ever Put Before the World. The Newspaper Corre- 
spondence. The Old Definition to the Words “Anno” and “Domini” 535 

CHAPTER XVI. 

Explanation of the Thirty-eighth Verse of the Seventh Chapter of St. John. 

Review of the Books of the Apocrypha 550 

CHAPTER XVII. 

The Wisdom of Jesus, the Son of Sirach; Jesus, His Grandfather; Jesus, the 
Son of Nave; Jesus, the Son of Zebedec; and Jesus the Son of David, or 
Jesus of Nazareth. “The Prologue of the Wisdom of Jesus, the Son of 
Sirach 558 

CHAPTER XVIII. 

The Birth of King David’s Sons. The Reign of Adonijah. The Reign of 

Solomon. The Writer of the Ecclesiastes 569 




CHAPTER 1. 


Neighbors and friends teach your children disobedience. Mother's should not be 
afraid to say to their friends: — Let my child obey me. Men, even sitting upon 
the jury at law, will sympathize with vileness. The vial of morality, and the 
vial of Christianity. 

I was once present where some parents with two small children were 
visiting their relatives. Every time that they sat down at the table, the 
children would ask for something and the parents would say: “No you can’t 
have it now.” Then their aunt would immediately pass it to the child and 
say. ‘ ‘Let them have it, let them have it.” Thus constantly teaching the 
child to disobey the parent’s commands. It would have been far better for 
the children, had the parents have let them have their own way, without 
speaking to them, than to command them and then let them disobey their 
commands. 

Once the little boy pushed his cousin down and caused her to cry, the 
father took the boy and slapped him with his hand ; the aunt snatched the boy 
from the father and carried him away. I ask: Where is there a man that 
would snatch a child from its mother when she is correcting it? A woman 
can do anything that she may please, and it is all right; but a man must not 
correct his child, yet the bible tells us that “if a man wants to hold office in 
a church he must have his children under good subjection with all gravity.” 
How can a father have “his child under good subjection,” when the woman 
will not permit him to correct his child? 

One year ago our Lowell church hired a preacher who gave them satisfac- 
tion in the pul pit until one day at home one of his children ref used to obey him. 
He took the child and whipped it, and compelled it to obey. His members, the 
sisters in his church, thought it an awful thing for a father to whip his child. They 
said that the child was not old enough to obey its parent’s word. (I say that 
a child is old enough to be learned to obey, just as soon as it is old enough to 
disobey, and then is the very time for cultivation.) Some of the brethren of 
this church joined with the sisters, and from that day trouble began, and they 
soon discharged the preacher from their church before his year was half out. 

Again I ask, how can parents ‘ ‘have their children under good subjec- 
tion,” when their friends and neighbors run their business in correcting their 
children ? The very next preacher that this congregation hired, in one of his 
sermons said, that he believed in faith curing sickness without medical aid. 
One of his members got up and told him that that was the last of his sermons 
that he would listen to, so they discharged him at the end of three months. 

It seems that a preacher must preach his sermon to suit his congrega- 
tion. This same member told me that he thought that an educated preacher 
was cheaper at a thousand dollars than a poorly educated one was at two hun- 
dred. It is popularity that makes the great swell in our churches. Place 

411 


412 


HOW ARE WE LED? 


popularity in the church on a level with popularity out of the church, and 
their number would decrease. Why? Because they do not practise or pos- 
sess the true teachings of Jesus Christ. Jesus was crucified for speaking the 
truth without book education. It is money, not book learning, nor religion, 
that makes so many great preachers. Take half of the money out of the 
pulpit, and three-fourths of our preachers would seek other employment. I 
do not wonder that Paul said, that “ for the love of money is the root of all 
evil,” though I must say that disobedience is the main root of all evil. It is 
planted and sprouted in the human mind before the child has any knowledge 
whatever of money. It is practised from infancy up where money is not 
thought of. Even the church members claiming to understand the commands 
of the Scriptures, yet they will disobey when they know that their disobedi- 
ence will take money out of their pocket rather than bring it in. Money is a 
great root of evil, but disobedience is the main root of all evil, and it is 
planted in the human mind by the mother, and cultivated by the neighbors. 
When fathers wrongfully cultivate the disposition of their child, they are just 
as bad as the mothers, but the mpthers have the first step to take, and the 
greatest power to exercise good training. 

I once being chosen as a juror, and whilst acting with the other jury- 
men, we had a case wherein a fourteen-year-old boy was accused of petty lar- 
ceny. A part of the jurymen argued that ‘ ‘the boy was too small to be 
punished by civil law, that it was the duty of the parents to punish the boy ; 
let the party that was wronged sue the parents for damages, and then let the 
parents punish the boy. ” Thus the boy was released. Soon we had another 
case wherein a woman was charged with petty larceny, and those same jury- 
men argued that she was a woman in delicate health, and it would be wrong 
to send her to prison; thus we disagreed, leaving the case unsettled. I 
argued that the women and the children were the ones to punish, and that we 
could not begin too young with them. I then remarked that we ought to 
teach our mothers to train their children to strict obedience from their birth 
up, and those jurymen at once turned against me and said: “The fathers are 
the ones to teach the children obedience.” 

One of our number remarked that ‘ ‘it is not right to raise your children 
too strict, for they will be all the worse when they get out from under your 
control.” I had heard this saying from my boyhood and I knew it to be 
false, and I knew that people would tell it for the truth and then try to prove 
it true by pointing out some one. So this man pointed out a preacher’s son, 
and began to tell what a wild young man he was and how strict his father 
was. I asked, “Did that preacher have a circuit?” His answer, “Yes, he 
was considered a good preacher and he preached so” — pointing out his circuit. 
I asked, “Did he train this boy and keep him under subjection when he was 
on his circuit, or did the mother do the training?” He did not answer, but 
turned to a farmer who belonged to a church and said: “This farmer was 
always at home, and see what his boy is to obey.” Then I asked, “Did this 
farmer daily take this boy to the field with him, that he might train the boy 


MONEY IS A GREAT ROOT OF EVIL. 


413 


aright the first three, four, five or ten years of the boy’s life, or did he leave 
the boy at the house for the mother to train?” He said, “Of course, the 
mother has the care of the child whilst it is small.” Then I repeated the 
words of the Catholic priest: “Let me have the training of your child until it 
is ten years old, and the teachings that I impriut upon its mind will never 
depart from it.” About this time we departed from the jury-room and 
were sitting in front of the court house, where a fountain of running water 
stood. A woman with a small child in a cab was passing by when the child 
asked for a drink of water. The mother stopped the cab and at the same 
time said: “You must not drink this water — it will hurt you.” The mother 
filled a cup with water and held it to the child’s mouth as she remarked: “You 
must not drink but a little, for it is not good for you ; there, that is enough ; 
now, stop; will you mind!” still holding the cup to the child’s mouth. I 
called the attention of my opponents to witness the act, the mother continu- 
ally commanding the child, and at the same time — of her own free will — she 
was assisting her child in disobeying her commands. Then I asked, ‘ ‘When 
does the disposition of a child begin to form? Who shall we teach to culti- 
vate the disposition of the child? When shall we begin to cultivate the 
child’s disposition? Then one of my opponents said, “My children always 
obeyed me,” and I asked, “Did your wife ever interfere with you when you 
were correcting your children?” and he answered, “No,” and I asked, “Did 
you ever see a mother that resisted her husband from correcting his child?” 
His answer, “Yes, and if she had been my wife I would have given her the 
toe of my boot.” Then I asked him, “Which one cultivates the mind of the 
child at the time that it needs the most care?” I told him that the child 
drinking the water that its mother told it not to drink was a small thing to 
look at, but it was the first step to disobedience, and the mother herself put* 
it into the child’s mind. 

A preacher preaching a sermon in the city where this court house was 
located, presented to the view of his congregation a glass can filled with clear 
water, which he used in parable, saying that the can represented the human 
heart, which never changes. He presented the water that was in this glass 
in representation of the spiritual blood of the human heart. (We remember 
that Jesus compared the righteousness that feeds the human mind, to water, 
and He said it was the “waters of life,” which was as clear as a crystal). 
This preacher presented this glass of water in its clearest stage — in a spiritual 
illustration. He called it the blood of an infant heart at birth — which was as 
pure as pure could be. Then he pulled a vial out of his pocket, containing a 
black looking liquid which he called iniquity: he dropped one drop of this 
iniquity into this infant’s heart as he held it up to view, and the congrega- 
tion could see the dark stains of sin streak through the clear water of the 
infant’s heart: this he said was the first sin that ever entered this infant 
heart, and it was probably the stealing of a cookey, and he said 
that the infant placed this first stain in the blood of its own heart. As he 
dropped the second drop of iniquity into the little infant’s heart, and as his 


414 


HOW ABE WE LEO? 


congregation saw the dark clouds dart through its crystal blood, he said that 
that was the second stain that ever entered that little heart, and the little in- 
fant placed that stain in its own heart, and it was probably the lie that 
covered the theft of the cookey. 

This preacher went on dropping iniquity from his vial into the blood of 
the human heart that he held up to public view, in greater and greater 
quantities as iniquity gradually increased, until the human h,eart appears as 
black as the ace of spades from crime after crime. Then he drew another 
vial from his pocket filled with a liquid which he said was good morals : then 
he began to pour good morals into the blackened human heart, until he had 
poured all the good morals into that heart, but all to no effect. All the good 
morality that could be poured into the sin-stained heart could not fade its sin- 
stained color. Then he pulled a third vial from his pocket filled with a 
liquid which he said was Christianity, and as he began to drop the first small 
drops of this Christianity into the human heart, its dark sin-stained color 
began to fade away, and by the time he had dropped a few drops of Christian- 
ity from his vial into his human heart, the waters of life had become as clear 
as a crystal. He then said that that heart had become as pure as in its in- 
fancy, and was now ready for heaven. 

Now I began to ask, “What constitutes Christianity, and where can I find 
it?” When a little tract was handed to me entitled, “An Abstract op the 
Confession op Faith,” I opened it and began to read. Article 1. “We be- 
lieve that there is only one God, the Creator, Preserver and Governor of the 
Universe, who exists in three persons, Father, Son and Holy Ghost, equal in 
every divine attribute and perfection. ” Art. 2. We believe “That the Scrip- 
tures of the Old and New Testament are the word of God, and the only perfect 
Vule of faith and practise.” Art. 3. “We believe that man was created holy, 
but fell from that state by transgression in eating the forbidden fruit, and in 
consequence of that transgression, all men are born destitute of holiness, wholly 
inclined to sin, and thus exposed to eternal death.” Art. 4. “We believe 
that God worketh all things after the counsel of His own will, yet so as that 
He is not the author of sin, and that His purposes extending to all events, 
are eternal and unchangeable ; yet, by those purposes, the will of man is not 
unavoidably determined either to good or evil.” Art. 5. “We believe that 
the Lord Jesus Christ by His obedience, sufferings and death, made an atone- 
ment for sin, and through this atonement, pardon and eternal life are freely 
and sincerely offered to all.” Art. 6. “We believe that although through 
the atonement, whosover will may come to Christ, yet such is the depravity 
of his heart, that no one will accept of eternal life unless drawn by the 
special influences of the Holy Spirit. ” Art. 7. “We believe that God from 
eternity, out of His mere good pleasure, without any foresight of faith or 
good works, or perseverance, or any other thing in creature. (This article 
says that we are saved without any foresight of our own, without any faith, 
any good works of our own, or without any perseverance on our part, or anv 
other thing in us or in our creature), as conditions or cases moving him 


WHAT IS INIQUITY ? 


415 


thereunto, chosen in Christ, a certain number of mankind unto holiness and 
eternal life, whom He effectually calls by His Spirit, justifies from sin, adopts 
as his children, sanctifies by His grace, though imperfectly in this life, and 
keeps by His power through faith unto salvation.” Art. 8. “We believe that 
all the regenerate may, by their growth in grace (recollect that grace is a free 
gift; in this case it is a free gift from God without any retaliation on out 
part whatever. And this little tract says, “growth in grace, ” not our growth 
in good morals), and conformity to the will of God, as revealed in the Bible 
(as revealed in the Bible, we can’t use our judgment on the errs of the Bible, 
though we know that the king’s writings in the Old Testament are very foul, 
and we know that Paul’s writings were written under the burden of humane 
frailty, for no man is perfect, and so we) attain an assurance of salvation. ” 
Art. 9. “Webelieve that Christ has appointed for His church two ordinances, 
baptism and the Lord’s Supper. Baptism to be administered to visible 
believers and their children; but the supper to the former only.” Art. 10. 
That there will be a resurrection of the bodies, both of saints and sinners, and 
that there will be a day of judgment when all will be judged according to the 
deeds done in the body, and that the wicked will be sent away into everlasting 
punishment, and the righteous be received into life everlasting. ” 

I studied those articles over and over and over, with the greatest of care. 
Then I ask: What is iniquity? What is sin that stains and blackens the 
human heart, but immoral words and works? and what can purify the human 
heart except the reverse of what stains it. 

Then I took his glass of water, and I said it is not the human heart, but 
the human head, and the water that is in it is not the blood of a heart, but it 
is the human mind, and it is as pure, as clean, as free from the stain of sin 
as an infant’s mind can be. Then I took his little vial of iniquity and began 
to drop it into that little infant’s mind, and as I saw the first drop make its 
dark streaks through those little pure waters of life, I said: “This is the first 
sinful stain that ever entered this little innocent mind, and it is the stain of 
disobedience ; and it was placed there by its mother, when she held the cup of 
water to her infant’s lips to assist it in disobeying her commands, and it made a 
dark streak in that little mind that it will carry to its grave.” 

From this little vial, from time to time, the mother continues to drop 
iniquity into the infant mind until it becomes as dark as nature, and it grows 
darker and darker until the human mind becomes blackened with crime. 
Then I asked for a little vial of Christianity and when it was handed to me, 
I found it to be the little tract entitled “An Abstract of the Confession Of 
Faith .” I took my pen and scratched off this title, and wrote a new title, 
The Vial Of Christianity. From that day hence, this little book is called: 
My Vial Of Christianity , and I found this little Vial of Christianity to con- 
tain the ten articles of faith that we have just gone over. 

Then I turn to view the recollection of my acquaintance with mortal life, 
and the first object that met my recollection was a girl that belonged to no 
church; she produced an abortion. Her mind was blackened with the crime. 


416 


HOW ARE WE LED? 


She was considered a sinner, and unworthy of sociability. I looked into my 
little Vial of Christianity , and found that there was no atonement for her. 
In the fifth and sixth articles I found that “pardon and eternal life” were 
offered her, but God had formed “the depravity of her heart, ’’that she could 
not “accept of eternal life,” for she was not “drawn by the special influence 
of the Holy Spirit.” 

Then I recollect that less than two years ago, I was at work for a man 
that belonged to the Christian church, while I was there a neighboring girl 
was brought into his house, and an abortion was produced, and then reported 
that the patient was sick with a boil. I saw that this crime stained the minds 
of a number, and the lie that hid the crime also placed another dark stain on 
the very same minds. I knew that every member of that family was in high 
standing in the Christian church, so I pulled out my little Vial of Christianity , 
and began to pour it into the human head to. cleanse the human mind. It did 
not work in the water for me as it did for the preacher. When he poured it 
into the human heart, the waters became clear and clean. When I poured it 
into the human head, the waters remained dark and cloudy. I saw that 
those crimes had placed a stain upon those minds that must go with them to 
their grave, and on through all eternity. I remembered that they were mem- 
bers of the Christian church, so I again opened my little Vial of Christianity , 
and the fifth article told me “that the Lord Jesus Christ, by his obedience, 
suffering and death, made an atonement for both those sins.” 

Then I turned again to the world and I heard a sinner using profane 
lauguage. His mind was blackened. I opened my little Vial of Christianity , 
and I began to pour the fifth article into the human head; but when I came 
to the sixth article, I found that he was not ‘ ‘drawn by the special influences 
of the Holy Spirit.” Then I remembered that less than two months ago I 
was walking along the road, and I passed a member of the Christian church, 
who was plowing corn. He was watching his plow closer than his team, and 
when his horse trod on some corn, he jerked the lines and exclaimed: “get 
up there, you god dammed son of a bitch. ” This man was examined, and he 
was found to be in good standing in the Christian church. Then I opened 
my little Vial of Christianity and I found the stain upon his mind to be im- 
printed there for all eternity, yet J esus atoned for that sin, for he is one that 
the Holy Spirit has drawn. 

Then I again turned to passed recollections, and I saw a girl that be- 
longed to the United Brethren Church, and she wanted a pair of earrings, and 
she had no honest way of getting them, so she stole them and cut the drops 
from them, that she might wear them without having them known. Her 
mind was blackened with the crime of the theft. I opened my little Vial of 
Christianity to find “pardon and everlasting life” for her; but I found that 
her church was not the Christian church , it was only a United Brethren 
church, and I found that Christ had made choice of “His church,” so there 
was no pardon for her, she became a backslider and died a sinner. 

I again turned to the world and I found a mother that was eternally 


“PARDON AND ETERNAL LIFE.’' 


417 


jawing and dealing out hellfire. in her home circle — the greatest crime on 
the face of the earth. She was not a church member, but a vile sinner. 
Her husband died when she was in middle age, and to this day she has lived 
a great part of her time entirely alone. The Christian people say that for the 
last twenty-eight years she has lived a widow, just because she is too mean 
for man to live with. I turned to the church to find a member that com- 
pletely equals her in the great crime of dealing out hellfire in her home circle. 
I have made this woman different visits, to find her jawing the inmates of 
her home circle. I have often sat down to her table to hear her leave off 
her jawing long enough to ask God for His blessing, and then renew her jaw- 
ing while we ate. I once visited her, I found her a jawing, as usual, she 
ceased her jawing to read the Bible and hold family prayer, and I actually 
thought that she prayed for more than thirty minutes. She prayed for 
every body and every thing that she could think of, and as soon as she 
arose to her feet she renewed her dealing out that hell fire which she con- 
tinued to do until I left the house. Her mind is continually blackening with 
the greatest crime that visits the face of the earth, which stains are recorded 
there for all time and eternity. I have opened my little Vial of Christianity 
to find ‘ ‘that the Lord Jesus Christ, by his obedience,' suffering and death, 
made an atonement for this great sin, and she is entitled to pardon and 
eternal life. ” 

Then I turn to look the United States of America over, and find one- 
hundred and forty-two different religious denominations; and the Camp- 
bellites is the only Christian church that there is. The rest are only 
Methodists, onty Baptists, only drunkards, or only some religious set; but 
the Campbellites is Christ’s church, they are the Christian church, and I find 
also that any crime that is practiced by the sinner, may be frequented by 
the Christian, and yet the Christians find “pardon and eternal life. ” Even 
the worst crime that visits the face of the earth. The frequent dealing out 
of hellfire in the little home circle, making home a little hell upon earth, may, 
from day to day place a stain on the minds of the Christian that must be 
carried through all time and eternity, and yet the Christians sin through 
the “ obedience , suffering and death of the Lord Jesus Christ is atoned for.” 

Now I find that my little Vial of Christianity does not cleanse the 
waters of life for me as it did for the preacher, but pardons all 
crime for church members only. I find that those stains are so firmly 
recorded in the mind (of a sinner or a member of some other church,) 
that those records cannot be wiped out or forgotten; while the preacher said 
that a few drops from the Yial of Christianity would wash, cleanse, whiten 
and purify the blood of the human heart from all stains of sin or guilt 
whatsoever, if a member of his church; so I began to think that my Vial of 
Christianity cannot be pure. Then I remembered that Brothers Worldly and 
Griesel had told me that Christianity was found in the New Testament. I 
again began to search the New Testament, and the first word spoken of 
Christianity is found in Pauls and Barnaba’s years preaching at Antioch, ten 


418 


HOW ARE WE LED? 


years after Jesus was crucified. I then remembered that Brothers Worldly 
and Griesel told me that Christianity was found in the doctrine of Jesus — in 
the four first books. I turned to search those books, but found no Christianity 
there: but only could find that Joseph and Mary were just people, practicing 
good morals. I found that Jesus was conceived, born, and raised under good 
morals. I found that Jesus by nature, was constantly doing and teaching 
good morals. I cannot find one word either in the New Testament or in any 
infidelic writing, to show that Jesus ever dropped one word or act of im- 
morality. 

After I had become thoroughly convinced that Jesus was one of the 
truest of moralists, constantly practicing and teaching the very best morals ; 
I took my little book and scratched off the title “ Vial of Christianity ” and 
wrote in its stead, “ Vial of Morality . ” I then turned to view the many 
churches that I had found, and in the Presbyterian church I found a good 
moral woman, who was well spoken of by all who knew her. I became 
thoroughly acquainted with all of her children, three girls and three boys: 
and I never saw or heard of a black stain on the mind of one of them. I 
asked the boys how it came that they were all of such good morals, and they 
replied: “We were all raised by one mother.” I turned to the United 
Brethren church, and I found a good moral family there. Then to the Metho- 
dist, and 1 found a good moral family there; and I believe that there is good 
moral people found in any and all churches except the Campbellites, they are 
all Christians regardless of morality. 

Then I took my little book — 11 Vial of Morality , to doctor up the human 
mind, to prepare it for heaven : and I found it to be filled with the very same 
ingredients, and worked the very same on the church members’ mind as it did 
when it bore the old title, Vial of Christianity. I found that the church 
member could do an} r crime whatever, and Jesus had atoned for that crime, 
and they find “pardon and eternal life, ” yet the black stain was not washed 
from their mind, their mind was not as clean and as white as the mind of 
the moralist who had not committed the crime. 

But let me say here, this little book is a printed article, and the Christian 
church does not claim it. They teach their faith more verbally, and reserve 
the chance to quiver. But I have chauged its title, and what can I do but to 
empty out its contents, and fill it anew ; so I fill it with the following articles : 

VIAL OF MORALITY. 

Art. 1. We believe that there is only one God, the Creator, Pre- 
server and Governor of the Universe, who exists — with all righteous people 

in three beings: “Father, Son, and Holy Nature.” 

Art. 2. We believe that the righteous teachings of both the Old and 
the New Testament, are inspirations from God. xlnd though we believe a 
great portion of the Old Testament to have been written in parable, yet we 
believe that God gave it to man, to enlighten the mind of man, for the benefit 
of man. 


VIAL OF MORALITY. 


410 


Art. 3. We believe that the mind of God plotted, planned, and carried 
into effect the whole entire work of the creation; and we believe that that 
very same mind of God was in existence before the great creation, and is still 
in existence to-day, and will be in existence after this world has passed away. 
And we believe that mind of God to be a righteous mind, a mind of firmness 
with mildness, peace, purity, and love for all kind of good morality. 

Art. 4. We believe that God created the mind of man in his own image, 
a mind of love, peace and purity, and if in the image of God, man’s mind 
must be an everlasting mind. 

Art. 5. We believe that the devil is a mind in direct opposition to the 
mind of God. Hatred, uproar, deceitful, sly, and full of all kind of immor- 
ality. And we believe that Satan, through the disguise of the serpent, crept 
slyly into the mind of Eve, and led her into disobedience. 

Art. 6. We believe that from the days of Eve, through the delusion of 
Satan, and through our own disobedience, all mankind falls from the path of 
righteousness; yet we believe that Satan’s main power over Adam and his 
children, was through the influence of the wife and the mother. 

Art. 7. We believe that sin has its infancy as all else has, and there it 
gets its root which seizes firmly to the human nature before we are old enough 
to become accountable for that sin, but after we become of a realizing matur- 
ity, we, of our own desire, must fight against that sinful nature, if we ever 
gain heaven. 

Art. 8. We believe that a great burden of the sin of a child rests upon 
the shoulders of the mother, who permits sin to seize firmly to the child’s 
nature, whilst the child is wholly in the mother’s power, and yet has no power 
of itself to resist sin. And we believe that mother shall share the puishmeut 
with that child in hell, for later sins. 

Art. 9. We believe that the word morality covers the entire inspiration 
of God — the entire teachings and doctrine of Jesus Christ; and the inspir- 
ation of God — the teachings and doctrine of Christ is not full, except it con- 
tains every moral word and act that falls before the human mind ; whether 
from between the lids of the Bible, or elsewhere. 

Art. 10. We believe that every immoral word or act, is an inspiration 
of the devil, whether found between the lids of the Bible, or elsewhere. 

Art. 11. We believe that to turn aside from any moral word, or moral 
act, is disobedience of God’s word; whether such moral word or works are 
found between the lids of the Bible or elsewhere; and disobedience was all 
that led Eve from the fold of God, and disobedience is all that leads the 
human being from the fold of God to this day. 

Art. 12. We believe that Jesus Christ never offered his own body as a 
sacrifice. But the very same devil that beguiled the mind of Eve, beguiled 
the mind of those Jews, and that devil offered Jesus as a sacrifice. 

An offer is to give. God did not give Jesus to God. Christ was God — 
Christ did not give Jesus to God; neither did Christ give Jesus to the Jews, 
but He withdrew himself from the Jews, and prayed to God, sajung: “Father, 


420 


HOW ARE WE LED.' 


save m? from this hour.” “And. . . .withdrawn from them. . . .and knealt 

down, and prayed, saying, Father remove this cut from me.” “And 

He fell on the ground, and prayed that, if it were possible, the hour 

might pass from him.” “And He said, Abba, Father take away this 

cup from me.” “And He went a little farther, and fell on his face, and 
prayed, 0, my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me.” Matt, 
26:39; Mark 14:35-36; Luke 22:42; and John 12:27. 

Can anyone believe that Jesus could make a free will offering with such 
words in his mouth? No! It would be a begrudging offer, and God has 
never yet accepted a begrudging offering. But Jesus goes on to say, “for 
this cause came I unto this hour.” Not for this purpose , but for this cause . 
This cause was the cause of sin, crime ; the cause of sin is what took J esus to 
the cross. If He had paid no attention to sin, the Jews would have paid no 
attention to him. But, it was a sin, a crime to crucify Jesus for doing good. 
Bid God accept a sinful crime as “an offering in righteousness?” 

Art. 13. We believe that Christ atones for sin; but, we believe that 
Christ was nothing more — nothing less than a part of the mind of God, that 
dwelt in the body of Jesus And, if Christ ever atones for your sins, 
the very Christ that atones for your sins must dwell in your own bodjr; and 
the greater that portion of Christ that dwells in your own body, the greater 
the atonement for your past sins. 

Art. 14. We believe that all children have the mind of Christ dwelling 
in their bodies until they have matured enough to realize and know they are 
disobeying true morality; though their mother may have cultivated diso- 
bedience in their nature previous to their knowledge. 

Art. 15. We believe that man, woman, or child may sin, and repent of 
that sin, and try to cultivate a desire — a mind in their own nature, to obey 
every moral word and act, to the best of their judgment and ability, and so 
have Christ (the mind of God — the very Christ that dwelt in the body of 
Jesus) in them. We believe that that person may sin again, and repent 
again and try to cultivate a mind of obedience to morality in their disposition, 
and again have Christ in them. 

Art. 16. We believe that no person — matured enough to realize that 
Christ has left their nature — can gain heaven, except they repent of their 
sins, and have again taken Christ into their nature, and are at the time of 
their death — and have been previous to their death, trying to cultivate that 
Christ — that mind — that desire of obedience to good morals in their nature. 

Art. 17. We believe that no human being is perfect — no human being 
can pass through life perfectly, therefore we believe that when we meet sin 
in our path, if we turn to the right and find sin there — if we turn to the left 
and find sin there — if we find that we cannot pass in life without committing 
some sin, if we coolly and calmly reflect upon all the sins that are before us, 
and of all of those sins choose to do the least sin that is before us, we have 
Christ reigning in us the same as though we had committed no sin 
whatever. 


TWENTY-TWO ARTICLES OF FAITH. 


421 


Art. 18. We believe that sin committed in the home circle, far excels 
the same sin committed elsewhere. 

Art. 19. We believe that the mind turns from good to evil whilst here 
in this mortal body, and it must change from evil to good whilst here in this 
mortal body, if it ever becomes good. 

Art. 20. We believe that there will be no change of the spirit — the 
mind, after it leaves this mortal body except the natural growth of happiness 
or unhappiness. 

Art. 21. We believe that whether this mortal body be raised again, or 
whether we have some other being created for our spirit, that being will never 
realize happiness, or misery, except it possesses our own mind, that under- 
stands what that misery or that enjoyment is a reward for. 

Art. 22. We believe that the mind of man was created in the image of 
the mind of God. 

Now I find twenty-two different articles of faith in my little Vial of 
Morality. 

It is a custom of the world, when they write an article, they must quote 
a few lines from the Bible to strengthen that article. I omit those quota 
tions, and simply appeal to a good sound judgment — a good moral judgment 
— a righteous judgment. 

I could find verses for almost every article that I have written, except 
those containing morality. I do not find the word moral in the Bible, though 
in my former writings I have substituted that word, and quoted a great deal 
of the Bible, using the word morality. 

A fact is the word moral, or morality, was not in use in the English 
language when the Bible was translated into that language; therefore there 
was nothing translated into that word. 

Another fact is the translator didn’t translate all things correctly, when 
he did his translating. For instance, Num. 11:12: “Carry them in thy 
bosom, as a nursing father beareth the sucking child.” This word should 
have been nursing “mother;” we all know that it is the “mother” that bears 
the sucking child in her bosom. Exo. 20:5: “Visiting the iniquity of the 
father’s upon the children.” We also know that the disposition of the mother, 
is much plainer stamped in the nature of the child, than the disposition of 
the father. I could quote more, but perhaps the Jews called both parents 
“father,” in those days. 

Again, if I were to quote scripture after each article, I would leave it 
for criticising as I criticised Elder Gitchel’s work. We can prove anything 
by the Bible, if we select a part, and leave out the rest, especially if we 
typify fifty days from the crucifixion of Jesus to the day of Pentecost, by 
sixty-three days , from the slaying of the lambs in Egypt, to the writing of 
the law, on Mount Sinai. So I leave all my work to a righteous judgment. 


422 


HOW ARE WE LED? 


CHAPTER II. 

Wash them and make them whiter than snow, and then dress them equally. Jesus 
mingled with the sinners. The sportsman that joined the church. Why did 
the religious people hate Jesus? 

After completing my little vial of morality, I compared it with the 
preacher’s vial of Christianity, and I find that the mother that raises 
her child in disobedience, after he has traveled through a sinful life, the 
preacher pours every article of his Christianity into that sinners bosom, and 
takes him into the church. Even though he becomes a true Christian, the 
stains of every crime that he has ever committed are still stamped upon his 
mind so plainly that they cannot be washed out. 

Again when I turn to the mother that has raised her child in true mor- 
ality from his birth; when I read him the twenty- two articles from my little 
vial of morality — when I tell him that jesijs Christ was a moralist — 
when I tell him that he is walking in the doctrine of Jesus Christ, he can sing — 

O, Christ now I long to be perfectly whole, 

I want Thee forever to dwell in my soul; 

Break down every idol, cast out every foe, 

Now wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. 

And when we look over his past life and reflect upon his mind, we see 
that it is washed cleaner and whiter than snow. Not a stain of crime or sin 
is seen thereon. 

But this moral man has been living a moral life without paying a preacher, 
that is where the trouble is. I say that Christianity cannot be carried on 
without money .to defray expenses, and any true Christian will readily furnish 
their share of such money. But, I say that it is not right to pay one man 
two hundred dollars for a year’s work on a farm, or pay him twelve or 
fifteen hundred dollars to go into the pulpit a year. I say it is not right to 
dress a man in drilling to raise our bread, and dress another in broadcloth to 
eat it, and then feel himself above the raiser, on account of their dress. But 
it takes money to hire the preachers to carry on Christianity, regardless of 
what I say. And if a member of the church don’t pay the minister, he is of 
no use in the church. 

Thelittie congregation that I have previously spoken of was situated seven 
miles from Lowell. They were country laborers, and it is a good day’s work 
to ride seven miles once or twice each Sunday to attend Sunday-school and 
church. If their team works hard all the week it needs rest on Sunday, rather 
than to be driven seven miles to church, so this little congregation organized a 
Sunday-school in their school-house, and prayer meeting in the evening. One 
of their number began to exhort, and later on became an ordained preacher. 
When this meeting first began this congregation helped to raise money to pay 


NOT UP-TO-DATE IN PREACHING. 


423 


the preacher at Lowell. They were every one of them poor folks ; it was a 
neighborhood of a poor class of people. 

Those people did not do right in all their ways and words when they first 
joined the church. Neither did the members that were in high standing — 
the rich members of that church — do right in all things. 

They soon built a church about three miles from this school-house, and 
this little congregation threw in money to help build it, but it was too far 
from Lowell for the Lowell minister to come there regularly, so it was locked 
up most of the time, and only opened for funerals or special occasions. The 
fact is they could not raise money enough to pay a high-priced preacher for 
coming there, and the main body of the church could not humble themselves 
to hear a low graded preacher. 

This little congregation still carried on their Sunday-school and evening 
meeting in the school-house, and their exhorter frequently preached to them, 
until they began to think that they could study the Bible, that they could 
live a Christian life without paying a high-priced preacher. So they fell off 
from their contributing to the Lowell church, and furnished only money 
enough to buy their own supplies and to carry on their own Sunday-school 
and evening meeting. 

This displeased the main body of the church, and they began to try to 
break up the little congregation. So they called them sinners, hypocrites 
and heathens. I admit that they did not do right in some ways, but where 
is there a Christian who does right who rejects the “Vial of morality” and 
drinks only from the “Vial of Christianity?” But they still felt that their 
farming must be attended to and that they wanted religious worship, and it 
was easier to go to their school-house, and probably they realized that it was 
cheaper. 

When this exhorter wanted to preach in the new church the high-priced 
preacher told him that he was not up-to-date in his preaching, so the elders 
of the church would not let him preach in the church. They also told him 
that he must quit preaching in the school-house. 

He was not educated for a preacher, yet he studied the Scriptures and 
preached from the true sentiments of his heart. But the elders finally told 
him that the little congregration was a congregation of heathens, and if he 
mingled with them he was no better than they. Next the elders told him 
that if he went to that school-house again to preach they would turn him out 
of their church. This broke up the little Sunday-school. 

The Bible tells us that Jesus mingled with the sinners; and admitting 
this little congregation to be sinners, was not this exhorter following in the 
tracks of Jesus when he was teaching those sinners? 

< 1 1 come not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance, ” — 
Luke 5:32. 

This preacher was not preaching to the righteous ones of Lowell, but to 
the sinners of the school-house. 

“ I say unto you that ioy shall be in heaven over one sinner that re- 


HOW ARE WE LED? 


*Z4 

penteth more than over ninety and nine just persons which need no repent- 
ance.” — Luke 15:7. 

Could not he have gained far more in getting one of those sinners to 
repent than he could have gained by preaching to ninety and nine Lowell 
members ? 

'‘And when Jesus came to the place he looked up and saw him, and 
said unto him, Zacchus, make haste and come down, for to-day I must abide 
at thy house. And he came down and received him joyfully. And when 
they saw it they all murmured, saying that he was going to be guest with a 
man that is a sinner.” — Luke 19:5. 

When this preacher was dining with one of this little congregation was 
not he following after Jesus’ example ? 

Now I ask, can a man be doing anything wrong when he is doing pre- 
cisely what Jesus did? If this little congregation was a congregation of sin- 
ners, was not this exhorter doing precisety his duty? 

“Jesus. .. .overthrew the tables of the money changers, and.... said 
unto them. . . .my house shall be called a house of prayer.” — Mat. 21:12,13. 

This little school-house was a house of prayer. It contained no money 
tables, and the exhorter did not pass the hat. So the “ Pharisees. . . . held a 
council against him, how they might destroy him.” — Mat. 12:14. 

Who was it but the people that called themselves religious that wanted 
to destroy him, and say, “why do thy disciples transgress the traditions of 
the elders?”— Mat. 15:2. 

What were “the traditions of our eiders?” Those traditions were that 
those people should abandon their meetings and Sunday-schools in the 
school-house and come where they could get sermons that they could pay for, 
up to date. 

What was the complaint against this exhorter? 

“We saw one casting out devils in thy name; and we forbade him, be 
cause he followed not with us.” 

Did the literate preacher of this church give the answer of Jesus? 

‘ ‘ Forbid him not, for he that is not against us is for us. ” 

Now, I ask: Did not those Christians drive this little congregation into 
backsliding? Were not those priests, those elders, and those members fol- 
lowing in the doctrine of the priests, the elders and the scribes, that crucified 
Jesus? Was not this exhorter following in the doctrine of Jesus when he 
was preaching to those sinners, and did not he turn away from the doctrine 
of Jesus when he turned from his congregation? 

It reminds me of the sportsman who joined the church. He kept race- 
horses, a fighting dog, game cocks, playing cards, and all amusing articles, 
and gambled on all amusing games. Yet at a church revival he came forth 
and joined the church. He had plenty of money and paid his church dues 
promptly. One day it was noised about that he had been to a horse race 
and won fifty dollars. He came home and promptly paid his church dues, 
yet the brethren held council and turned him out of church. They soon had 


MUST RELIGION RE PAID FOR ? 


435 


another church revival, and the sportsman renewed his church membership. 
He soon met his brother sportsmen, and won fifty dollars on a dogfight, paid 
up his church dues promptly and returned to his work. But his church 
brethren again turned him out of church. 

After having a few revivals without gaining him back into the church, 
the minister made him a visit and asked him why he did not come back into 
the church. He replied, “I joined your church for honor, but it is no honor 
to me to be turned out of church so often.” The preacher hung his head for 
a moment and then suggested: “Come and renew your membership, and 
when you see fifty ahead come to me and I will have your name taken from 
the class-book. If you lose your fifty your name must remain off until we 
have a revival, but if you gain fifty report to me and I will have your name 
replaced.” The sportsman renewed his membership, and the following con- 
versation often took place: 

Sportsman — “Say, Bev. , please have my name taken from the 

class-book.” 

Preacher — : “What’s the matter now?” 

Sportsman — “Oh, I see fifty ahead.” 

Preacher — “All right, I will attend to it.” 

This worked well as long as they kept that preacher, but when they got 
a new preacher he decreed that it was too much work to take his name from 
the class-book and replace it so often, so they must send a spy with him to 
see if he won fifty, that is all that is necessary; but if he looses fifty take 
his name from the book. The spies soon got so that they could win fifty 
oftener than the sportsman. 

It appears that the little school-house congregation, like the sportsman 
at a dog fight, lost their fifty, but their spies at the same dog fight gained 
their fifty, promptly paid their church dues, and are still members in good 
standing in the same old church . 

Again I ask, was the religion that Jesus taught free, or must it be paid 
for? Those elders and priests were determined that this little congregation 
should meet with the main assembly to worship God and to pay their tribute 
into its proper place, or they should not be allowed to worship God. Those 
who complied are still in good standing in the church, though we know some 
of them to use profane language daily. Is this true Christianity? Is it a sin 
for this brother to expound the scriptures to the sinners the same as Jesus did? 
Have not those elders put a stumbling block in his path? Does not such 
things drive the world to see that there is no reality in such Christianity? 

Our preachers teach us that Jesus substitutes for the sins of his people? 
Will Jesus substitute for the sins of two or three elders, and cast the souls 
of thi3 exhorter and his whole congregation into hell for backsliding? Is it 
the will of God, or the will of Christ, that the profaner, the carouser, and 
the pilferer gain the right road to heaven by complying with ‘ ‘the traditions 
of man,” whilst the moralist entirely lose their soul in failure of complying 
with such traditions? Deliver me from such teachings. 


426 


HOW ARE WE LED? 


Don’tbelieve me, neither believe your preacher, but use your own judgment. 

Again I ask, What is Christianity? Because we fail to find the word 
morality in the Bible, shall our preachers make us believe that we may pour 
in all the morality that his vial contains, and with no effect whatever? 
Whilst a few drops of Christianity from another source, will cleanse the 
human heart to make it “whiter than snow?” 

I say that the word morality belongs in the scriptures, even though it 
was adapted in a late day. Let a mother drink freely of morality from the 
time that her child is conceived until it reaches an age beyond her care — let 
her breed, nourish, and cultivate morality in the mind of her child during her 
reign — her power, and that child’s heart will be whiter than the preachers 
have power to make it. 

Why did not God place the word morality in the Bible? The Holy 
Scriptures of our Bible were inspired from God; yet where was His power to 
make them perfect? All that He could do was to inspire into the human 
mind, and if the human mind w r as not perfect, it could not receive perfection. 
If the word morality was not in the human mind, that mind could not receive 
that inspiration. Our preachers teach us that Jesus condemned and an- 
nulled the Old Testament: But He only condemned part of it. 

The human mind was far from being perfect, in the days of Moses. God 
inspired righteousness into the human mind: the devil inspired corruption 
into the very same mind: imperfection wrote it all down. Jesus condemned 
the corruption of the Old Testament and called it traditions of man. Jesus 
embraced and held fast to the righteousness of the Old Testament, and called 
it scripture. He opened, read, and expounded those scriptures. The New 
Testament was not written, He could not expound its contents. 

Why did the religious people hate Jesus? 

Because He used His own judgment in preference to taking their teach- 
ings. Because He — from their Bible and their teachings — separated and 
taught true scriptures, and paid no attention to their traditions. Because He 
taught publicly that their religion was corruption. Because He taught the 
world that if they lived in and practiced (what we to-day call) good morality, 
they were washed, made clean and fit for heaven. 

Why do the religious people hate me? 

Because I use my own judgment in preference to taking their teachings, 
Because I — from the Bible and from their teachings — separate and teach 
true scripture, and pay no attention to their traditions. Because I teach 
publicly that their religion is corrupt. Because I teach the world, that if they 
live in, and practice true morality, they are washed, made clean, and fit sub- 
jects for heaven. The religious people dislike me because I follow in the 
same tracks of Jesus. 

“Shall even he that hateth right govern?” “And will thou condemn him 
that is most just? most moral?” Job. 34 :17. I say just what I think about 
such Christianity, yet I do not say that all church members possess popular 
Christianity, you must judge for yourself whether I mean you or not. 


THE BIRTHDAY OF JESUS. 


427 


CHAPTER III. 


In some places the words of the Bible do not mean what the same word means 
in our present language. The old birthdays are lost. What constitutes the 
Holy Ghost? What constitutes Christ? When were they united with God — 
the three in one? 

In early days a person who could foretell coming events were called 
videns or seers. Such as Joseph, who foretold the famine ; Noah, who fore- 
told the flood; and Abraham, who foretold the sprinkling of righteousness 
throughout all nations, were not called prophets but were called seers, and 
their works were called the works of the seers. The laws, the works, the 
rules and regulations of the unjust, the unrighteous (or what we call immor- 
al) rulers, were called laws, and many of them were put into the Old Testa- 
ment, which Jesus afterward called traditions. A king, a prince, a noble- 
man, or one slightly elevated in rank was called lord, and their rules were 
called the lord’s law. Many of those things went into the Bible and are mis- 
taken for Divine law, though the Divine God was not the inspirer of them. 
This lordly title has followed the elevated class of people down to the present 
day, and among the English people it is nothing uncommon to hear the old- 
est son of a family bear the title of “lord.” 

In olden times a teacher was called a prophet ; if they were teaching the 
people rightly they were called good prophets ; if they taught the people cor- 
ruptness they were called false prophets; and their writings were also called 
prophets. They were teachers and their writings that were left behind them 
were also teachers. They were prophets and their writings that were left 
behind them were also prophets; and those writings were the prophets that 
Jesus expounded. Jesus himself was a great teacher, and on the account 
of his teachings they called him a great prophet. “This is Jesus the 
prophet.” — Mat. 21 :11 ; John 7 :40. 

On the account of John’s great teachings, Jesus called him a prophet. 
“Among those that are born of woman, there is not a greater prophet than 
John the Baptist. ”— Luke 7:28. 

To-day a person has got to be a foreteller of some great event that is 
coming, if he is called a prophet; but we cannot read the Bible with the 
same words that we use in our present language, and expect it to have the 
same meaning in all places. At the time that all righteous works took on a 
new name, our great teachers also took on a new name. A man that was a 
o-reat teacher before Jesus, and up to Jesus, was called a prophet. Nine 
hundred and seventy-seven years before Caesar’s charge, the clergyman called 
himself the preacher, otherwise they were called prophets. After Jesus, 
they received the new name of apostles. 

To-day we keep a day as a birthday of Jesus, and of his Apostles, also 
a day for some that were converted after Jesus was crucified. I will give 


428 


HOW ARE WE LED? 


you those days as nearly as I can; yet I cannot give them correct, for a 
change in our era about two hundred and forty-five years ago, has changed 
all dates previous to that time. 

We will begin with Jesus’ birthday; this is supposed to be on the 
twenty-fifth day of December. As we have had two changes in our era since 
Jesus was born, we have but little assurance that this is His birthday, but as 
He was the greatest teacher ever on earth, we ought to keep some day to His 
recollection; and this we do, we hold Christmas as the day of his birth; the 
first day of January as the day that He was circumcised. “Epiphany,” this 
day is kept by many, the sixth of January, as a feast day in remembrance 
of the wise men that followed the star from the East, as they came to see 
Jesus when He was twelve days old. “Candlemas,” the second day of Feb- 
ruary. This day is kept in memory of the purifying of the Virgin Mary, the 
mother of Jesus. He is supposed to have been at that time forty days old. 
This day is kept in recollection of a Jewish custom, “purification.” 

All the above dates were affected by the great change in our era, made 
by Caesar when Jesus was four years and one week old. 

January 25th in the year 35, A. D. This is supposed to be the day that 
Saul was converted and baptized, two years after Jesus was crucified; he was 
afterward called Paul. 

“Septuagesimal. ” The true meaning of this word is seventy, though we 
find “septuagesima” Sunday to be only sixty three-days before Easter. 

“Sexagesimal.” The true meaning of this word is sixty, yet we find 
“Sexagesimal Sunday” to come fifty-six days before Easter. I must place 
those as errs in a wise man (Constantine), the king of Rome, and Pope of 
the Roman Catholic Church. 

“Quinguagesima. ” The meaning of this word is fifty, yet as before, we 
find it to be forty-nine days before Easter. 

Those errs in dates must be contributary to Constantine, as he was the 
constitutor of the Roman Catholic Church, and as those words appear, to be 
Roman words. When the world was in heathenism, errs and faults were 
constantly in sway. Religion is the only thing that ever brought this world 
from heathenism into civilization — the only thing that ever wipes err and 
fault out of existence, and it is yet far from finishing its work. 

Civilization is perfection; heathenism is err; and to-day we can see 
many errs mingled in our religious nations. When we look at our own 
nation, shall we look back at Moses* religion that had just stepped out of a 
perfect heathen world — and we curse his religion because it was faulty? whilst 
for more than thirty-five hundred years, religion has been trying to sway over 
the face of the earth, and yet we in our own religion are so full of fault? 

As for those errs in counting, we see that in the Hebrew language the 
word “Pentecost” meant fifty, yet they counted the first and the last, and 
made it count out forty-nine. When we turn to the Roman language, we 
find the word “quinquagesima” to mean fifty, and just the same they counted 
the first and the last and made it count out forty-nine. 


HOW DATES CONCERNING JESUS WERE KEPT. 


429 


The Romanites were in the rear of the Hebrews in coming out of heath- 
enism into right, so they must have been in the rear of the Hebrews in com- 
ing out of faults and err; therefore those errs in dates are contributed to err 
in Constantine. 

Next we find ‘ ‘Shrove Tuesday” ; this day was also brought into use in 
the Catholic Church with England, when England was brought out of heath- 
enism. This is the last day of the pancake feast; it is followed by “lent” or 
forty days fasting before “Easter. ” When the English people began to unite 
with the Catholic Church, each one separately, on this day, had to go before 
their priest and there penetratingly confess their sins. The next day is ‘ Ash 
Wednesday, ” or the first day of forty, of fasting. On this day they were to 
sprinkle ashes on their heads as they began this fasting. This was somewhat 
in practice among the heathens, and can be traced back nearly three thousand 
years before this English date; but at this date it was in practice in the church 
and called a part of Christianity. 

This “Lent” or fasting is a forty days fasting, it begins on “Ash Wed- 
nesday” and continues until “Easter,” a* period of forty-six days (thus again 
showing an err in the correctness of the establishing of those days), and 
Friday before Easter is a great day of this fast, in recollection of the cruci- 
fixion of Jesus. Then following this fasting comes the great day of feasting 
“Easter Sunday. This feast is in recollection of the resurrection of Jesus. 
Those days vary with the moon. Ail dates concerning Jesus were kept — 
according to the Jewish custom — in the lunar year, and it is hard to tell upon 
what day of our year they do fall. But dates of men born after Julius 
Caesar’s great change , are easier found in our style of keeping the record 
of the year. 

The 14th of February is kept for St. Valentine’s birthday; March 1st 
St. David’s day, and the 17th St. Patrick’s day. St. Patrick is the man sup- 
posed to have brought Ireland from Paganism into Christianism ; it is also 
said that he banished the snakes and frogs from Ireland. 

Next we find “Palm Sunday.” This day is kept in remembrance of 
Jesus riding the ass colt into Jerusalem, when the people spread their gar- 
ments in the street for the colt to walk on, while others plucked palm leaves 
and strew them for the colt to walk on. But, when we read the twenty-sixth 
chapter of Matthew, together with the fourteenth chapter of Mark, and the 
twelfth chapter of John, we find that Jesus wa3 in Bethany in the house of 
Simon (on Wednesday), two days before the eating of the passover, on Friday; 
so Jesus must have ridden into Jerusalem over the palm leaves on Thursday 
instead of Sunday. 

Next we find the day “Pesach.” This is placed on the day that the 
“nisan” moon fulls (the first moon of the Jewish year). The Jewish feast 
of the passover was eaten on the fourteenth day of this moon, but “Pesach” 
is generally placed on the fifteenth day. 

“Lammas,” this is another Jewish day, the day of the feast of the first fruits. 

Then comes “Good Friday.” The year that Jesus was crucified, the 


430 


HOW ARE WE LED? 


fourteenth day of the moon, came on Friday, and Jesus was crucified on that 
day; but now we do not keep the fourteenth day of the moon, but keep Fri- 
day in its stead. This Friday that man fixes, sometimes comes as late as the 
20th of April, sometimes a moon later than the “nisan” moon. 

Then comes “Easter Sunday” (two days later than Good Friday). This 
day is kept in remembrance of the resurrection of Jesus, which took place 
on the sixteenth day of the “nisan” moon. 

Next we turn to “Whit-Sunday” or “Pentecost.” This (in the Hebrew 
count) signifies fifty, but whether Pentecost came fifty days from the cruci- 
fixion, or fift} r days from the resurrection, is more than I can find out. This 
Sunday is kept in remembrance of the decension of the Holy Ghost upon the 
Apostles, and the next Sunday (Trinity Sunday), one week later, the Apostles 
were endowed with the Holy Ghost. It is claimed that on this day the Holy 
Ghost united with Christ — and with God; the three united in one, but I find 
nothing in the Bible to support such an idea. I claim that the “Holy Ghost” 
is the “holy nature” of a righteous person, the nature of a person that strives 
to do right. I claim that Jesus Christ possessed this holy nature from His 
birth. I claim that this holy nature never was separate from Christ, there- 
fore it never had a chance to come back and unite with Christ. I claim that 
Christ was nothing but the spirit or mind of God, that dwelt in the body of 
Jesus. I claim that Christ was God, and was never separate or apart from 
God, therefore Christ never had a chance to come and unite with God. I 
claim that the holy nature (Holy Ghost), Christ and God, were all one, and 
there was never a day set apart for them to get together to unite and become 
one. I also claim that the holy Ghost is the holy nature of any person that 
possesses a holy nature, and the unholy ghost is the unrighteous nature of any 
person that possesses a devilish nature. I believe that a holy nature is and 
always was a part of the mind and disposition of God, and I believe there was 
never yet a person endowed with the Holy Ghost, but what that person was 
born with a good nature, or else after being born with an evil nature, departed 
from that evil nature, and tried to live in and practice a good nature — a goed 
disposition. I believe there was never yet a righteous person except that 
person possessed a good disposition — a part of the mind of Christ — a part of 
the mind of God, either by nature bred and born in that person, or by second 
nature that is formed by leaving off an evil disposition and by practicing a 
good disposition. 

We will next look at a day called “Purim.” This is a day kept in remem- 
brance of the deliverance of the Jews from the power of Haman. This feast 
comes a moon earlier than the feast of the passover. The passover feast comes 
on the fourteenth day of the first month of the Jewish year called “Nisan,” 
and the purim feast comes about the fourteenth day of the last moon of their 
year, called “Adar. ” 

Then comes “Annunciation” day. This is the 25th day of March and is 
kept in remembrance of the tidings brought by the angel to Mary nine months 
before the birth of Jesus. 


BIRTHDAYS OF ELEVEN APOSTLES. 


431 


We will now look over some of the days set apart for the Twelve Apostles 
and others whom our world desire to hold in recollection, and we find the 23d 
day of April to be kept as St. George’s birthday; the 25th St. Mark’s day; 
June 11th St. Barnabas’ day; June 24th the birthday of John the Baptist, 
and the 29th St. Paul’s day; September 29th Michaelmas’ day; Octobej 18th 
St. Luke’s day; November 30th Andrew’s day; December 6th Nicholas’ day, 
and the 26th St. Stephen’s day. 

The birthday of eleven of the twelve apostles chosen by Jesus, appear as 
follows : May 1st Philip’s day and James Zebedee’s day, June 29th; Simon Peter’s 
day, July 25th; James Alpheus’ day, August 24th; Bartholomew’s day, Sep- 
tember 21st; Matthew’s day, October 28th; Simon Yelotas’ day and Judas 
Alpheus’ day (a brother to James Alpheus), November 30th; Andrew Peter’s 
day (a brother to Simon Peter), December 21st; Thomas Digmus’ day, Decem- 
ber 27th; John Zebedee’s day (a brother to James Zebedee),who was killed 
with the sword for preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ, before any of the 
New Testament was written. I find no day set aside in remembrance of 
Judas Iscariot, the betrayer of Jesus Christ; but we find February 24th noted 
as the birthday of Matthias, who was afterwards chosen to fill the place of 
Judas Iscariot. 

It appears that Jesus chose those Twelve Apostles to preach the gospel 
to the world, but I fail to find that Andrew, Bartholomew, Thomas, Simon 
Zebedee, or Judas Iscariot ever preached a word, or wrote a letter. I find 
that James Zebedee and Philip preached the gospel, but I fail to find anything 
that they ever wrote, whilst the others were both preachers and writers of the 
gospel of Jesus Christ. Yet, in the New Testament, we find more writing 
written by those who were converted after Jesus was crucified, than what was 
written by the Apostles chosen of Jesus. The first, fourth, twentieth, twenty- 
first, twenty-second, and the twenty-sixth books of the New Testament were 
written by the Apostle’s that Jesus chose. It is believed that Matthew wrote 
the first, John Zebedee wrote the fourth, James Alpheus wrote the twentieth, 
Simon Peter wrote the twenty-first and the twenty- second, and Judas Alpheus 
wrote the twenty-sixth. 

Those five of Jesus’ chosen wrote sixty-three chapters of the New Tes- 
tament, whilst there is yet one hundred and eighty-four remaining. As for 
the twenty-fourth, twenty-fifth, and twenty-seventh books, or twenty-nine 
chapters, are supposed to have been written by John. But what John was it? 
Was it St. John the Divine? or was it John Mark? or was it John Zebedee? 
or was it some other John? All Apostles were divine, and all were saints. If 
it was John Zebedee it was one of Jesus’ chosen; if it was John Mark he was 
first found among the Apostles eleven years after Jesus was crucified. First, 
Peter found refuge in the house of the mother of John Mark; later on he 
was found to be an Apostle. By reading the first chapter of this epistle, I 
would believe it to have been written by John Zebedee. 

As for Mark, the writer of the second book, he is supposed to be John 
Mark who was first found among the desciples eleven years after the cruci- 


432 


HOW ARE WE LED? 


fixion. As for Luke I can find no trace of when he became converted. As 
for Paul who did the most of the writing of the New Testament, he was con- 
verted two years after the crucifixion. 

Christ was God; and still, Christ is God. It was Christ’s desire, there- 
fore it was God’s desire that man teach to the world righteousness. Christ’s 
desire to-day — or God’s desire to-day is precisely the same as it was then. 
Through the power of God, men that became Christians years after Jesus 
was crucified were inspired by Christ to give righteous teachings, and to write 
righteous writings. And to-day the very same God through the very same 
Christ, can inspire man to give to the world righteous teachings, and to do 
righteous writings, and the righteous writings that are written to-day is God’s 
inspired word just the same as the righteous writings of the Apostles. 

But those who are prejudiced in their own church — in their own creed — 
in their own faith and belief, and go to extremes in writing, just to win all 
that they can into their own church, are not all righteous writers. 

In turning again to the birthdays of our noted men, those who became 
converted after Jesus was crucified, and we find two days for Paul: First, 
his birthday, the 29th of June; second, the day of his conversion, the 25th 
of January; John Mark’s day, the 25th of April; St. Luke’s day, the 18th 
of October. 

We have now brought to recollection the birthday of many great men, 
who have passed into eternity many years ago. What is the object of calling 
to recollection the birth of those men? It is merely to call to recollection the 
great works— the great teachings of those men. And Paul being the most 
extensive writer of those men, we have two days whereby we can call to 
recollection him and his teachings. Jesus being the greatest teacher of all 
of those men, we have a number of days set aside in recollection of Him and 
His teachings: First, His birthday, called Christmas; second, the day of His 
circumcision, called Circumcision; third, the day that the star appeared to 
the magians, called Epiphany; fourth, Simeon’s declaration that Jesus was to 
lighten the Gentiles, called Candlemas; fifth, the day of Jesus’ crucifixion, 
called Good Friday; sixth, the day Jesus arose, called Easter Sunday. 

The next question is: Are those the correct days of those events? Can 
I satisfactorily show to the world that those birth days, and days of other 
events are entirely lost? Let us compare the Jewish calendar with our 
Gregorian calendar, for fifty-six successive years, and we will be greatly 
surprised. 

All of those dated events were transacted in the Jewish nation, under 
the Jewish law, and under the Jewish calendar. 

The Jewish year begins with the month Nisan, (or moon) each month 
begins with the first day of the new moon. 

The month “Nisan” is generally supposed to correspond with our month 
“March;” but not entirely so. The month “Nisan” \s the moon that fulls 
after the fourth of March, and before the third of April; or the moon in which 
the sun crosses the equinoctial line. 


THE JEWISH AND GREGORIAN CALENDARS. 


433 


In comparing the Jewish calendar with our Gregorian calendar for fifty- 
six successive years, I find that once in that time the month Nisan, or the 
Jewish year, began as early as the nineteenth of February, and four times 
during that fifty-six years it began as late as the nineteenth of March. When 
their year begins on the nineteenth of March it will close on the seventh of 
the following March, and their next year will close on the twenty-third of 
February, making their year consist of three hundred and fifty-four days. 
Then it becomes necessary for them to have a leap year, so they add one 
month to their year and make it end on the twelfth of March. This year 
will consist of three-hundred and eighty-three days, and the next year will 
close on the last day of February. Then it again becomes necessary to have 
another leap year of thirteen months, two leap years in five. 

I find that twenty-one of those fifty-six years are leap years. That will 
bring the Jewish fifty-six years around with our fifty-six years to a day; but 
not to an hour and a minute. So the next fifty-six years will not correspond 
just as this fifty-six years has corresponded. 

I find that the first day of Nisan plays all around between the nineteenth 
day of February and the nineteenth day of March ; yet it is considered that 
the month Nisan corresponds with the month of March. 

I find that the fourteenth day of Nisan (the day that Jesus was crucified) 
and the sixteenth day of Nisan (the day that Jesus came out of the tomb) 
plays all the way from the fifth day of March to the second day of April. 
We make Good Friday and Easter Sunday play back and forth in answer to 
the fourteenth and sixteenth day of Nisan; yet the sixteenth of Nisan 
frequently comes before the sun crosses the line, but we never permit Easter 
Sunday to come until after the sun has crossed the line. 

The tenth month of the Jewish year is called Thebe t, and is supposed to 
correspond with our month “December.” In comparing the calendar I find 
once in fifty-six years the first day of Thebet to occur as early as the eleventh 
day of November. Four times in fity-six years it occurred as late as the 
seventh day of December. I find the first day of Thebet to continually be 
waving back and forth between those dates, the same as the first day of 
Nisan waves. I also find the twenty-fifth day of Thebet (Christmas) to 
once occur as early as the fifth of December, and four times to occur as late 
as the thirty-first of December, and Circumcision day always following eight 
days later, and Candlemas day still thirty-two days later. Those dates under 
the Jewish calandar are continually waving back and forth precisely the 
same as the first day of Nisan and the first day of Thebet. 

Other nations counted their time precisely the same, only their year 
began at a different season of the solar year. 

Jesus was a Jew, born and raised under the Jewish calendar; His birth- 
day and circumcision day were recorded in the Jewish calendar, and the Jews 
hold the same today as they did when He was born. 

A little over four years after Jesus was born, a king of another nation 
decreed that the year should be divided into twelve months, and twelve 


434 


HOW ARE WE LED? 


months only, and should consist of three-hundred and sixty-five days and six 
hours. 

This king was king over Rome, and his decree had no power over the 
Jewish records; and to this day they carry their records independent of his 
decree. 

When the world was created an era of time began, and its records were 
kept in various ways until the Jews were delivered out of Egypt. When the 
children of Israel were delivered out of Egypt a new era began, and they 
kept their record under a new calendar, and the old records were greatly 
lost. When Jesus was a little more than four years old (in Rome) a new 
era began, and the old records were practically lost. 

Though the Jews carried on their era and their records through Caesar’s 
period, and even until the present day, yet I defy the world to bring forth 
a person competent to go back nineteen hundred years and tell us whether 
those four years consisted of one leap year and three brief years, or whether 
they consisted of two leap years and two brief years. I defy the world to 
tell us upon what day of December, in the solar year at that period, Jesus 
was born. 

Let me say here that over four years passed away with nothing but the 
Jewish calendar to reflect upon. Then came in the Roman calendar, recording 
the Roman era, which is now called the Christian era. Then rolled around 
thirty-three years more with nothing but relatives to preserve any of those 
records. Then came in the Christian people, and for three hundred and 
sixty-five years more they had no power over any era; but wholly depending 
upon the Jewish era, as those records had all sprang up in the Jewish era. 
Thus passing away four hundred years from Jesus’ birth. 

Then Constantine, being a king over Rome, became pope over the 
Christian church, made it a Catholic church, and decreed that his whole 
nation should become a Christian nation. Then the Christian people had 
power over the Roman records and under the calendar of the Roman era, 
which is now called the Christian era, and from that day those dates could 
have been brought down in the Roman records. But where is the person to- 
day sufficiently educated so as to take the J ewish calendar for four hundred 
years, and the Roman calendar for three hundred and ninety-six years, and 
sufficiently compare them so as to give correct dates. 

After looking over the great transformity of the old calendar of the 
Jewish, or world’s era, to the new calendar of the Roman, or Christian era, 
we will come on down to the history of the United States of America, 
published in the year 1878, A. D. Here we find, on page 190, that George 
Washington was born in Westmoreland County, Virginia, on the eleventh 
day of February, 1732, A. D., and today we celebrate his birthday on the 
twenty-second of February; and why is it that we do so? It is on 
account of the growth of wisdom ; and righteous wisdom is the growth of 
God on this earth (in the human being), while corrupt wisdom is the growth 
of the devil on this very same earth (in human being) ; and that is precisely 


CHANGE OF THE JULIAN CALENDAR. 


435 


where Jesus stood, and precisely what made Him Christ. Jesus Christ’s 
wisdom extended so far beyond the wisdom of his fellow man, that it was 
impossible for man to perceive it. It was impossible for man to understand 
where Jesus got His power, and how He did His works; but it was nothing 
but wisdom. It was nothing but the mind of God at work in the human being; 
and it was nothing but jealous corruption (the devil) working in the human 
mind that put Him down and crushed His wisdom. It was nothing but 
human frailty that failed to write down His sermons, His words and works in 
His daily walks, that failed to preserve His wisdom. His wisdom was lost, 
why should not His day be lost also. No! No! His correct day is lost; but 
let us cling fast to the day that we have got, to keep in recollection Him that 
has been before us, though in our mind He only stands as a dream. 

The time will come that all miracles that Jesus performed will be per- 
formed again; but wisdom must gradually grow to that extent, in order that 
the human being may understand its power; but every step of progression is 
called an invention, and what is said of the inventor? He is called wild 
and insane, and often forced to give up his ideas before he succeeds in his 
invention. 

God is not only wisdom in invention, but also wisdom in purity of the 
mind. The devil is also mingled in invention, but in corruption of the mind. 

But how was George Washington’s birthday lost? Just the same as the 
days of Jesus Christ and His apostles; by a change in the era. 

In the first part of my book, I stated that a report was in circulation 
that in the year 1670, A. I). , on the 20th day of October, all national powers 
decreed that Caesar’s year was too short, and they lengthened that year by 
leaping thirteen days and then adding forty-eight minutes and forty-eight 
seconds to bring it around with the sun. I also stated that this was a circu- 
lated report, and that I could not find it in print. Today I find it in print, 
find my former statement incorrect; now I give it as I have found it in print, 
and say that, in passing over the Julian calendar for fifteen hundred and 
eighty years, or three hundred and ninety-five leap years, authorities found 
Caesar’s years were too long instead of too short; and instead of their adding 
forty-eight minutes and forty-eight seconds to Caesar’s year, they subtracted 
ten minutes and forty-eight seconds, thus making every year that is devisable 
by four a leap year, except the hundreds which are not devisable by four 
hundred, and thus making the length of the solar year three hundred and 
sixty-five days, five hours and forty-nine minutes and twelve seconds, and yet 
they are not satisfied that our year is correct with the sun. 

As I have formerly stated, when Jesus was a little over four years old, 
Julius Caesar, in the Roman government, changed all records by (in his 
country) cutting off the world’s era, and by starting a new era, once known 
as the Julian era and carried on under the Julian calendar, after which 
almost all countries laid aside the old eras and adopted the Julian era and 
kept their records under the Julian calendar. The Jews and the Chinaman, 
I believe, never adopted the Julian era or recognized the Julian calendar. 


436 


HOW ARE WE LED? 


This era passed on fifteen hundred and eighty- two years, undisturbed; 
having taken the name of the Christian era. At a period of fifteen hundred 
and eighty-two years, a pope by the name of Gregory (again in Rome) 
broke the records of the Julian era by decreeing that the year was too long. 

Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary, under the word ‘ ‘style, ” tells us: ‘ ‘The 
Old Style follows the Julian manner (remember, he says the Old Style fol- 
lows the Julian manner) of computing the months and days of the calendar 
as established by Julius Caesar, in which every fourth year consists of 366 
days and the other years of 365 days. This is something more than 11 
minutes in a year too much. Pope Gregory XIII. reformed the calendar by 
retrenching ten days in October, 1582, in order to bring back the vernal eqi- 
nox to the same day as at the time of the council of Nice, A. D. 325. (Pope 
Gregory did this work in 1582, before George Washington was born. Wash- 
ington was born on the 11th day of February, 1732, but our country did not 
adopt Gregory’s calendar until Washington was twenty years old — in 1752.) 
This reformation was adopted by act of parliament in Great Britain in 1751, 
by which act eleven days in September, 1752, were retrenched, and the third 
day was reckoned the fourteenth. This mode of reckoning is called New 
Style (Here Webster tells us that our records are kept under the New Style ), 
according to which every year divisible by 4, unless it is divisible by 100, 
without being divisible by 400, has 366 days and any other year 365 days.” 

Here Noah Webster tells us that the Julius Csesar era is finished up and 
laid aside at the expiration of 1582 years, the same as the Jewish era was 
laid aside. It tells us that another era (called the Gregory era) has taken 
the place of the Caesar era, as much so as the Csesar era took the place of the 
Jewish era. The Gregory era and the Csesar era differ in dates as well as the 
Jewish era and the Christian era differ in dates. The Chinese still stick to 
their era, and reckon time under their own calendar. All events recorded 
under the Chinese calendar are lost to our Gregory calendar. The Jews still 
stick to the old Israelitic era and count their time under their own calendar. 
All events recorded under the Jewish calendar are lost to our Gregory calen- 
dar. The Russians still stick to the Csesar era and count their time under 
the Julian calendar, and the same as the Chinese or Jewish records, all events 
that are recorded under their calendar are lost to our Gregory calendar. 
Their dates are twelve days behind our dates, and after the 28th of February, 
1900, their dates will be thirteen days behind our dates, and every four hun- 
dred years thereafter will spread our dates still three days farther apart. 
The Russians have New Year’s day, the 2nd of February, the 4th of July and 
the 25th of December as often as we do, but not on our dates. 

Our scientific men patched over the breakage between the Julian era and 
Gregory era by calling the Julian era the Christian era, also by calling the 
Gregory era the Christian era, and by going progressively on so smoothly 
with the number of years in the Christian era that we scarcely know that 
such a change was ever made. We call it the Christian era, perhaps the 
Russians call their era the Christian era just the same, yet they have their 


WHEN DID THE CHRISTIAN ERA BEGIN? 


437 


new year’s feast on our 13th day of January. They have their 2nd of Febru- 
ary (Candlemas day) on our 14th day of February (Valentine’s day). They 
have their V alentine’s day four days after we have Washington’s birthday. 
One hundred years ago it was only three days after Washington’s birthday; 
two years hence it will be five days after Washington’s birthday. Their 4th 
of July comes on our 16 th of July; their 25 th day of December comes on our 
6th day of January. And two years hence every one of those comparisons 
will be changed from what they are at present. Who can keep track of such 
changing dates for thousands of years? 

Jones Brothers’ History of the United States, published in the year 1878, 
on page 190 says: “George Washington was born in Westmoreland county, 
Virginia, on the 11th of February (Old Style), 1732.” Webster’s Dictionary 
says “eleven days in September, 1752, were retrenched.” George Washing- 
ton being on earth at that time, and being a boy just passing out of his 
school days, well acquainted with the Julian calendar and also with the 
Gregory calendar, easily changed his own birthday from the Julian calendar 
to the Gregory calendar and got it correct. But I would like to know where 
there is a person to-day that can take our American calendar and the Russian 
calendar, compare them together, and go back to the Jewish records, and 
point out the birthday of those ancient men, and point them out correctly, 
even though they may have the Jewish records right before their face. 

But they tell us that the present era is the Christian era. I would like 
to ask when was the first year of the Christian era? Christianity extended 
all through the era of the Julian calendar and now extends into the era of 
the Gregorj r calendar; but when was the first year of Christianity? Was it 
the year 8, the year Jesus was twelve years old, when He was found in the 
temple conversing with the lawyers and doctors? or was the first year of 
Christianity the year 26, when Jesus was baptized? or was it in the year 27, 
28 or 29, when He was at various times tempted of the devil? Was the year 
one of the Christian era in the year 30, when Jesus began to preach? or was 
it in the year 33, when He closed His preaching? Or was the year one of the 
Christian era, the year 43, when “the disciples were first called Christians in 
Antioch?” 

What kind of Christianity existed in the first twenty-five years of the 
era of Julius Caesar’s calendar? Can there be an era of time except there be 
the years 1, 2 and 3 of that era? Is our present era the Christian era? or is 
it the Julian era (modified by Pope Gregory) in which Cristianity exists? 

Now, we have searched after all of our sacred days and we find them to 
be lost, but what is the difference? All the object in keeping those days is 
to bring to recollection the righteous works and the righteous words of those 
men. As for those men themselves we need have no care for them, for our 
care cannot affect them in the least, but it is for their teachings, their words 
and their works that we should care for; and as for the day that we keep in 
their remembrance, it does not make one particle of difference whether we 
have the correct day or not — it answers the purpose and brings their teachings 


438 


HOW AKE WE LED? 


to recollection just the same. I know that some teach us that it is those men 
themselves that we should take interest in ; that it is our faith in those men 
and in the works of those men ; what they can do in heaven for us to-day is 
what we should care for. But that is a false teaching. The teachings that 
they left is all that can benefit us. 

A short time ago an infidel asked me if I believed that Jesus Christ was 
the Son of God. 

I will give you our conversation as it took place: 

Infidel — Do you believe that Jesus Christ was the Son of God? 

Myself — Yes, certainly I do. But you must depend upon your own 
judgment, not upon mine. 

Infidel — How do you make that out? 

Myself — First, God created all things — the land, the trees, the herbs; 
and all those things are his, the devil has no part or power in them. God 
had to create those things first to furnish food for the mortal body of man 
and beast. Then God created the mortal body of man and beast, bird and 
insect. All of those things were God’s and God’s alone, the devil is power- 
less to change them or make them different. But when God first created 
those mortal bodies they had no breath, no life, no mind, not anything, 
except a form of flesh and bone. God made the mind and the life of the 
bird and beast, and placed them in their proper position as He went along, 
and they are in that position to-daj 7 ; the devil does not or cannot change 
them. The only power that the devil has over them is to corrupt them and 
cause them to decay. God is a great mind — to plot, plan and execute, to 
build up and create. The devil is also a great mind — of polution and de- 
struction. When God came to the human being He said to the devil, let us 
make man in our own image. They made man a great mind, in the image of 
God, to plot, plan, and to build up; also in the image of the devil, to corrupt 
and destroy. You may trace God to anything that you see fit, you trace the 
devil to anything you see fit; use your own judgment, and tell me if the mind 
of man is not in the image of God or in the image of the devil to this day. 

Infidel — It truly is? 

Myself — When God said to the devil, let us make man in our own 
image, He made the devil joint owner and ruler over the mind of man. xlnd 
when man chooses to serve the devil, when man’s mind is in the image of the 
mind of the devil, he must be the property of the devil — he must be the son 
of the devil. If our mind be in the image of the mind of God, we must be 
the son of God; if our mind be in the image of the mind of the Devil, we 
must be the son of the Devil. The mind of Mary was so righteous, was so 
much in the image of God, that she gave by birthmark, as an inheritance, a 
mind in the image of God, a nature of righteousness. Jesus’ mortal being 
was God’s from its creation, and his spiritual being was from God by inherit- 
ance. He must have been the Son of God, both soul and body. 

Infidel — But how about his conception? 

Myself — When God talks about man, He talks about the spirit; when 


THE SPIRIT GIVEN AS AN INHERITANCE. 


439 


the angel talked to Mary He talked about her conceiving the spirit that she 
was to give as an inheritance, not about the mortal body. It was the right- 
eous spirit, the righteous mind that Mary conceived from God, that she 
brought forth as an offspring from her own mind, her own spirit, that grew 
in the body of Jesus and became the great Christ, the great spirit, the 
greatest mind that was ever on the face of the earth. Let us try to again 
bring forth children with such a mind. 

Infidel — But I do not understand from the Bible that it was the spirit 
that Mary should conceive and bring forth. 

Myself — Very good; suppose that Matthew and Luke understood the 
talk of the angel the same as you understand it, and suppose that they wrote 
it with that meaning ; when you are studying upon that question, does it 
teach you to do right by your fellow man, or does it teach you that there is 
no call for regarding the rights of any one but yourself? In fact, does it 
teach you anything at all concerning right or wrong? 

Infidel — No, I can’t see that it does. 

Myself — Then why not lay that aside and study something that is in 
someway teaching us something good? 

Infidel — What was the mission of Jesus Christ on this earth? 

Myself — His whole mission, His whole intent was' to teach the world 
to practice good morals in word and works in everyday life and labor. 

Infidel — What was Jesus’ doctrine? 

Myself — Jesus’ doctrine, as far as we have got it, was morality. 

Infidel — Paul tells us that it was faith. 

Myself — Paul tells us something, and so does James, but they spoke 
their words in their own tongue ; it was translated into the Latin language 
and then into our language. Good judgment tells me that in their transla- 
tion, one word was spelled f-a-i-t-h, but I must spell it C-h-r-i-s-t-i-a-n-i-ty. 
I will quote a few of their words, spelling it my way. 

Paul's letter to the Ephesians, 2:8. ‘ ‘By grace are ye saved through 
Christianity; and that not of yourselves.” 9. “Not of works.” James' 
answer: James, 2:18. “Thou hast Christianity, and I have works; show 
me thy Christianity without thy works, and I will show thee my Christianity 
by my works/’ 20. “Wilt thou know, O vain man, that Christianity with- 
out works is dead.” 

James can prove without one word that he is a Christian — his works, 
his talk, his manner in every-day life proves him to be a Christian. Whilst 
Paul’s words tells us that he is a Christian, but he furnishes no proof what- 
ever, neither by works, words, or manner in every-day life. 

Infidel — What is Christianity? 

Myself — Christianity is to constantly try to do and to teach, in every-day 
life, what Christ tells you to do and to teach. 

Infidel — What did Jesus Christ tell us to do and to teach? 

Myself — There was a Christ that dwelt in the body of Jesus, and talked 
through the lips of Jesus; what that Christ told us to do, and to teach, I 


440 


HOW ARE WE LED ? 


know not, for but a few sketches of his sermons are recorded. But the 
Christ that dwells in my body is constantly teaching me to practice good 
morals in every-day words and works, toward all beings, to the best of my 
judgment and ability; and if you have a Christ dwelling in your body, that 
Christ teaches you the very same thing. 

Infidel — What is Christ? 

Myself — Christ is a good mind, a righteous mind, a mind that is seeking 
after good morals; and the Devil is a corrupt mind, an evil mind, a mind that 
seeks after fraud or immorals. You know whether you have a Christ in you 
or a Devil ; one or the other must dwell there. 

Infidel — It would not take much of j^our doctrine to make me a Chris- 
tian. 

Myself — I could not make you a Christian ; I am a moralist. 

Infidel — Well, a believer then. 

Myself — It is not your belief that will make you a Christian or take you 
to Heaven; it is good moral words, works and teachings in every-day life, 
in your home circle, and in your daily labor. 

I left this infidel with something in his mind to reflect upon, and if he 
becomes a Christian, he will become a Christian through the Christ that 
works in his own body; and if he lays aside selfishness, enough to practice 
and teach good morals in his home circle, and in every-day life and labor, he 
will truly be a Christian, walking in the doctrine of Christ. 


CHAPTER IY. 

Jesus’ sermon on the Mount. Why should we not teach our mothers? What 

does education do? What obscured ideas. 

Some do say that the fifth, sixth and seventh chapters of Matthew is one * 
of Jesus’ sermons; but Jesus was a great preacher, preaching long sermons. 
He held one congregation three days. Those three chapters can be read in 
fifteen short minutes. Can they be one of Jesus’ sermons, or are they a 
sketch of one of his sermons, and not hardly touching his instructions what 
we shall do or how we shall talk in our daily labor and practice? I say give 
us his whole discourse, and then let us call it a sermon. 

Now, my son, the school-teacher, makes me a visit, and much upbraids 
me for my doings. He says that I ought not to show the people their faults, 
for it is spread among all human nature to get mad when their faults are 
pointed out. 

I opened and read from the book of Job, 19:14. “My kinsfolk have 
failed, and my familiar friends have forgotten me.” 19. “All my inward 


“ WHY PERSECUTE WE HIM ?*' 


441 


friends abhorred me; and they whom I loved are turned against me.’* 28. 

“But ye should say, ‘Why persecute we him,’ seeing the root of the matter 
is found in me?” 

I show no person their faults, but show all that there are faults. My son 
said that if he was to show his pupils their faults, that he “himself would 
have to leave his school-room.” What an idea! When we see folks doing 
wrong, we must flatteringly encourage them and cover their faults. This 
idea has been in practice for thousands of j r ears. This idea was in the -heart 
of the Jews nineteen hundred years ago, and for that very thing we are angry 
at them until this day. That was the very reason why they beheaded John 
the Baptist; that was the very reason why they crucified Jesus, because they 
thought that He ought not to show them their faults, but should flatteringly 
encourage them in going on. Jesus showed the people that called themselves 
religious that they had faults, and they crucified him for it, those very 
people that called themselves religious. The Devil, that dwelt in the bosom 
of those calling themselves religious, was mad because Jesus showed them 
wherein they were wrong, wherein they were putting forth a practice, a teach- 
ing of immoral words and works; and that very Devil, that dwelt in those peo- 
ple calling themselves religious, offered Jesus for a sacrifice for their own 
immorality. 

No person that practiced good morals in both words and works, ever took 
offense at what Jesus or John the Baptist ever said. 

Can I show the very things (immoral words and works) that Jesus 
showed or must I be crucified as He was crucified by those calling themselves 
religious? 

Again, I say that I show no person their faults. Of course I know that 
there are immoral people, and of course I know that there are good moral 
people; some in the church who are called Christians, and others out of the 
church that are called sinners; but all who practice good morals, both in 
words and works, are Christians just the same. 

If I were to point out particular persons I would be showing those per- 
sons their faults, but as it is, I show no person their faults. I show to the 
world that those faults are in the world, and practiced by the church mem- 
bers as well as by those that are not church members ; and every person that 
reads my book and sees that I point out their faults, it is their own judgment 
that shows them their faults. It is their own judgment, not mine, that con- 
demns them in this world, and it will be their own judgment that must 
condemn them through all eternity. They ought not to get mad at me, 
but at their own judgment; for it tells them, and it cannot be disputed, that 
they practice those immorals. Ail that I say is, that they can see that those 
faults are bred and cultivated from their very birth in their own disposition ; 
and to prepare their own children for Heaven they ought to try to breed and 
cultivate in their disposition a nature to love to practice the good morals that 
Jesus practiced. Teach them that you are not perfect, and that if you raise 
them more perfect in good morals than yourself, through all eternity you will 


442 


HOW ARE WE LED ? 


look ahead in Heaven and see in your advance your own dear children in the 
height of their glory. 

We can never teach the world plain enough, that to gain the highest 
point in heaven we must raise our children to practice better morals than you 
can practice; and teach them to raise their children still better than them- 
selves. 

All that mothers have to do to teach this to their children, is to compel 
them in infancy and youth that they must yield to denial and practice 
obedience, and this cannot be taught them too young, This is the only 
thing that will bring the human mind into perfection, and perfection 
in the human mind is Christ. Morality is Christianity, and perfection in 
good morals is Christ. 

It is not necessary to be a perfect moralist in order to gain heaven ; yet 
the nearer perfect in good morals the greater the happiness in heaven. 

Perfect morality is heaven; obedience and self-denial reaches its highest 
clan, both in this world and in the world to come. Vehemence and im- 
morality is hell; and it grows in the human mind and its fire rolls from the 
human tongue. Indulgence and secretion reaches its lowest pits, and the 
human mind is all that comprises humanity, and the human mind can be 
grown in hellfire and torment here on this earth, or it may be grown in a 
heaven below on this earth ; but after it is once grown on this earth and 
passes into eternity without any change here in this life, there is never a 
change thereafter, except continual growth. 

Why should we not teach those things to our mothers? Why should we 
not teach our mothers that the nearer they raise their children with a perfect 
moral mind, the nearer they have raised their children in the image of Jesus 
Christ? Why not teach our mothers that such are the children that Christ 
said: “suffer little children to come unto me for of such is the kingdom of 
heaven?” Those mothers have sent them unto Christ. Why not teach our 
mothers that those are the children that actually receive the greatest heavenly 
happiness, both in this world and the world to come? W^hy not teach our 
mothers that above all mothers, they themselves will receive the greatest 
enjoyment with such children that can be received, both in this world and in 
the world to come? Why not teach our mothers that children grown into 
heaven will go much farther into heaven than those grown in hell and then 
left to themselves to repent and return to heaven at a late hour? Why not 
teach our mothers that the only way to grow her child’s mind in the image of 
the mind of Jesus, is to give it the inheritance of such a mind, and then cul- 
tivate it from its very birth? 

When such teachings become the topics of our preachers, then our world 
will experience true Christianity ; then our world wili become a true Christian 
world. But the stuff that they call Christianity to-day, was never the teach- 
ings of Christ. Now I want to ask the mothers that have cried and suffered 
for days, months or years over the imprisonment or punishment of her child, 
if she had (without anger in her own bosom) used the whip during the in- 


EDUCATION IS NOT CHRISTIANITY. 


44S 


fancy of her child; if she had raised her child to obedience from its birth; 
if she had taught her child (in its youth) to submit to self-denial ; if she had 
cultivated good morality in the mind of her child from its birth, does not she 
believe that to-day, instead of her suffering the twangs of hell over her child, 
would not she be enjoying great peace and happiness in its stead? 

0 ur people are trying to make our nation the highest educated nation on 
earth, but education does not make Christianity. Education prepares them to 
better accomplish their work, if it be works of morality education better 
prepares them to exhibit true Christianity, if it be works of iniquity educa- 
tion better prepares them to execute their evil deeds and hide their crime from 
civil law. Education is not Christianity, but it better prepares the mind to under- 
stand Christianity. There is truly a reality in Christianity, but what is Christi- 
anity? Christianity is the true words, works and teachings, the true doctrine of 
Christ; but what is Christ? Christ is a human being that is led, governed, and 
ruled by the true mind of God, and not by the mind of the devil. What is the 
doctrine of Christ? The doctrine of Jesus Christ we know not, for his ser- 
mons were not written down ; but the doctrine of the Christ of our present 
day is morality — the practice of good morals in our daily works and words ; 
and there is no human being that can deny but what such was the constant 
teachings of Jesus. 

1 positively know that God inspires and influences the human mind that 
will be influenced by him, and that is Christ; but more are influenced by the 
mind of the devil than by the mind of God. 

Some of our scientific writers try to teach us that there is no such thing 
as the devil, but there is no credit to be placed in their writing. They go on 
to tell us that the history of the creation as found in the Bible is not cor- 
rect. They tell us that the earth was created thousands of years before the 
creation of man. They tell us that God created only one body of matter and 
that was but a small insect; and as that insect grew and developed it became 
necessary for it to have several limbs; and as it grew from one insect to an- 
other, and from that to the various birds and beasts, its various necessities 
were supplied with various limbs suitable for its various works; and last of 
all the human being grew out of the development of this one small insect. 
Now I ask all readers if there is any sense or reason in any such print, and 
where do they get their proof for such growth before man came in? They tell 
us that if we would confine the horse to a watery life from generation to gen- 
eration, that time would change his foot to a weben foot for swimming, and 
thereafter that race of horses would have feet for swimming, but not for 
walking. Who can believe such writing? Sure there are many that will not 
use their own judgment, but believe anything that is printed. Allowing this 
to be the case, where can they find any record or any proof thereof before 
man was developed. What obscured ideas? 

They also tell us that characters were used for writing purposes before 
language was invented, whilst folks yet chirped and whistled as birds and 
beasts did. Is not this another obscured idea? Could any records of such 


414 


HOW ARE WE LED? 


people be kept, so as to give those writers any evidence whatever? If they 
take inspirations from an overruling power, let us take the inspirations of the 
Bible in regard to the devil. If they cast aside all inspirations, let us cast 
aside the obscured idea that characters as print or writing was in use before 
language was. Let us exercise good judgment rather than obscured ideas 
from any writing. 

When we look over the writings of infidels and see how they will 
change things, and how they will go to extremes in their expressions merely 
to make people believe as they believe; and when vre see how our preachers 
will change things and go to extremes as widely as the infidels do, should not 
we place confidence in our own judgment and study for ourselves? 


CHAPTER Y. 

My old friend, the infidel. Why he speaks well of different church members. 

I fell in company with an old infidel whom I have been acquainted with 
for thirty-four years. I personally know this man to be a man of good morals 
in almost every respect. I call this man an infidel because the world calls 
him an infidel. 

This man is a man of good morals, yet I cannot call him a Christian for 
the reason that he does not follow after the doctrine of Christ, wherein Christ 
teaches the world of a heaven hereafter, whilst this man teaches the world 
that there is no object in living a moral life for future happiness hereafter, 
but for the happiness of this life only. He classes himself with the infidel, 
and believes that Christianity is perfect humbugery. 

Could this man learn to divide Jesus and Christ as I divide them. Could 
he learn to divide the human being as I divide them, he would at once see 
what is the spirit of man; he would at once see what is created in the image 
of God; he would at once see what must be everlasting if created in the im- 
age of God ; and he would at once see what there is of man to take wretched- 
ness or to take happiness, both in this world and in the world to come. Was 
this man learned to divide the human being as I divide them, he would be- 
come one of our greatest Christian teachers, for he is a lover of good morals, 
yet they teach him that he is an infidel and a sinner. I fell in conversation 
with him and he told me of a gambling riot that had just occurred, where two 
men had been badly cut to pieces with knives. He told me that he could not 
say that he wished that the whole crowd had got killed right there, yet he 
said that it would have been a good thing for the public if every one in the 
saloon had got killed before the riot ended. He said that they were a perfect 
set of heathens, and that they were a curse to our community. 


THE NATION" FILLED WITH HEATHENS. 


415 


I say that he is right; they are heathens mingled in with our civilized 
nation, Our nation is filled with heathens, and where do they get their 
heathenism? It is bred, born and cultivated in their nature by their mothers. 

The women often say to me, “I guess the child inherits the father’s dis- 
position as much as they do the mother’s.” “The father has as much to do 
with training the child as the mother does.” But when I call their attention 
to the fact that if the mother so loves the father’s words and wa} 7 s as to let 
her mind continually be hankering after him, then her child will inherit the 
father’s disposition. Also, if the mother is so attached to one who is not the 
father of the child so as to let her mind constantly hanker after that one, her 
child will inherit the disposition of that person though not a father. 

When I call their attention to the fact that if the mother so hates the 
words and ways of the father as to let her mind be continually filled with 
anger, her child will inherit the father’s disposition in that case. x\lso, if she 
so hates the words or ways of one who is not a father of the child, so as to 
let her mind constantly be filled with anger toward him, her child will inherit 
the disposition of that person though uot a father. When I call their atten- 
tion to the fact that mothers are so tender toward their children that they will 
uphold their child in greater immorals than they will practice themselves, and 
so grow our disposition to the worse instead of growing to the better. When 
1 call their attention to those facts they never deny one of them. 

When I call their attention to the case of the mother at the fountain who 
told her child that it must not drink the water that she held for it to drink, 
that it had drank enough, and that it must stop its drinking; and at the same 
time with her own hands held the cup of water to her child’s mouth and aided 
it in disobeying her commands. When 1 call their attention to the fact that 
the first five years of the child’s life it is almost continually absent from its 
father, it is almost entirely under the commands of its mother, and almost 
entirely from under the commands of their father. When I show them that 
the mother sows the seed and cultivates the plant through its tenderest 
stages; when I show them how some fathers receive hell-fire from the mother’s 
tongue when they touch the child, they invariably drop the subject and con- 
tradict me no more. 

Those little crimes that they do in their infancy and youth are so small, 
that they are considered unworthy of notice; yet, if they were never per- 
mitted to do those little crimes, they would never grow in heathenism. If 
they were cultivated in strictly good morals in their little works, they would 
practice good morals in their greater works, and mothers must begin this 
cultivation. When I was raising my two oldest boys, their grandfather 
thought it fun to hear them swear, so he would tell them what to say and then 
give them a penny. I never whipped my boys for swearing, but often talked 
to them good naturedly, and told them that swearing was a very bad habit, 
and after one had formed the habit it was hard to leave the habit off again. 
I told them that I got into that habit when I was young, and that I had many 
times tried to break myself off the habit, but I could not. I would leave 


446 


HOW ARE WE LED? 


off swearing for a time but would soon begin again. I gave each of them a 
pig; then they would talk to me about swearing and give me their pig if I 
would not swear again for two weeks. I was always sure to loose the pig; 
then I would talk to them again, and again try it over. 

My wife so often said to me, 1 ‘you ought not to teach your boys what 
you do not practice yourself.” But I taught them, and by so doing I made 
them better men than myself. Dear mothers, always try to make your chil- 
dren better than yourself, and you never will regret it. This is so often said 
by others as well as by mothers: “You ought not to teach what you don’t 
practice.” “You had better practice what you preach.” “He preaches one 
thing and practices another.” 

Those are wrong remarks. Advice is good if it fills righteous judgment, 
even though it be spoken by a fool. 

If my words are good you may gain heaven by following after them, 
even though I may gain hell. If your preacher tells you how to do right 
and to talk right to make your own home a little heaven below, even though 
he may fall far short of making his home a heaven below ; yet, if you succeed 
you shall gain the great heaven eternal. 

I again met with this old infidel, but I will not call him an infidel, for he 
is a man of good morals, and that is just what Jesus was; and when he learns 
to see what part of man is the spirit, when he learns to see what part of man 
God created in his own image, he will then believe; he will then become a 
Christian, so I will call him “W .” 

I again met Mr. “W ,” and he told me of the sudden death of his 

son in Nebraska. In telling me of the death of his son he remarked, “he 
was a church member, a deacon in the Baptist church.” Then he went on to 
tell me of his visit to Michigan, and that he found some lost relatives of his 
wife, and he told me that they were good Christian people. It appears that 
his wife’s uncle was a Christian, also a moralist; but it appears that he mar- 
ried a wife that was not a moralist, and after raising two sons that were not 
men of good morals, he became a widower . He then went to Michigan, 
where he married a woman that was of good morals, and there they raised a 
family of good moral children. One of his granddaughters of the first fam- 
ily (Mrs.T.) lives in our neighborhood, and she is quite a rough, profane wo- 
man; whilst Mr. “W.” reports that the members of the second family (in 
Michigan) are very nice Christian people. 

As I have always known Mr. W.” to be entirely distant from all church 
or Christian teachings, I will give our conversation. In this conversation I 
will call myself “C. H.” and I will call this infidel “W.” 

C. H. — You have always made so light of church and Christian work, 
how is it that you speak so well of those folks as being good Christian people? 

W. — My religion differs from the religion of the most of people. I be- 
lieve in practising what you preach. I don’t believe in preaching one thing 
and doing another. 

C. H. — You may grow a tree crooked whilst it is small; after it is 


THE HUMAN MIND LIKE A TREE. 


447 


grown you may get braces and props and prop it up straight, and whilst the 
props are there it will stand straight, but let the props give away and the tree 
will again become crooked. 

W. — I am well aware of that. 

C. H. — Do you know that the human mind is as the treef You grow it 
up crooked in its youth, let it form all its bad habits in its youth, and it must 
be propped up to make it straight in its old age. 

W. — I guess that you are right there. 

C. H. — Let the props give away and will not that mind again become 
crooked? 

W. — I think they do. 

C. H. — Then if my mind has been grown crooked in youth, if I straighten 
up and begin to teach the world that it is easier to stand straight when grown 
straight from the beginning, than it is to stand straight after being grown 
crooked and then be propped up. If I teach such teachings, are my teach- 
ings good teachings? 

W. — Yes; certainly they are. 

C. H. — But as my mind has grown crooked and has to be propped up to 
make it straight, after I have given such teachings, if my props give away 
and I again become crooked, does that make my teachings any the less good 
teachings? 

W. — No; I don’t know as it does. 

C. H. — Then don’t never again teach the young that the old must prac- 
tice what they preach. But teach the young that if they are grown up better 
than the old was grown up, even better than yourself was grown up, they can 
easier practice what they preach. 

W. — That is right enough, but I like to see folks that pretend to be 
Christians live up to it. 

0. H. — Then you believe in Christianity? 

W. — I don’t believe in such Christianity as Mrs. — , Mrs. — , Mr. — , Mr. 
and Mr. — has; I could name hundreds of them; they have no more religion 
than those heathens in that saloon riot. 

C, H. — I noticed in speaking of your son that died in Nebraska: you say 
that he was a good Christian, and that he would be missed both in the church 
and in the community. 

W. — Yes; he was a man that everybody liked. He was a man that tried 
to be applicable in all places. 

C. H. — What kind of a woman had your son? 

W. She is a real nice Christian woman; she is a woman well liked by 

everybody. 

C. H. — Does it not take both man’s and wife’s works to comprise folks 
that are liked by everybody? 

W. — Certainly; there is Mr. — and Mr. — ; there are no nicer men in our 
country than they are, yet they are disliked by many just on the account of 
their wives’ works and talk. 


448 


HOW ARE WE LED? 


C. H. — Then those people (j T our wife’s cousins in Michigan), that you 
say are such Christians, have they good Christian wives? 

W. — Certainly; those men are good Christian men, but their wives are 
what makes their home what it is. 

C. H. — Then you believe that there is a reality in Christianity? 

W. — No, no; I call it Christianity just for short; it is not their belonging 
to the church that makes them such good people; it is their good morals that 
make them good people. There are many that belong to the same church 
that they belong to, yet they are no better than many of the church members 
around here. 

C, H. — Then you believe that there is a reality in morality? 

W.— Yes; I believe it is natural for some to practice morality. 

C. H. — Then if it is natural for some to practice morality; where do 
they get their nature? 

W. — Well, some inherit it from their mother, whilst others may practice 
it until it becomes second nature. 

C. H. — From the records of the New Testament, was not Jesus con- 
stantly teaching the people to practice good morals? Was not his entire 
works, words and teachings morality? 

W. — I can’t believe all of the New Testament. There was his walking 
on the water, and his raising the dead, and so on, that I can not believe. 

C. H. — Those were not Jesus’ teachings. 

W. — Yes; the New Testament tells us so. Do you go back on the New 
Testament? 

C. H. — All of the New Testament is not the teachings of Jesus. 

W. — Yes; how is that? 

C. H.— -If I come to you as a messenger, with a message from some of 
your friends, and you see me walking on the water in coming to you, that 
is nothing of my message. Though } t ou may tell it every time that you 
speak of me, yet it does not change my message in the least. The same with 
the New Testament; the miracles that the New Testament speaks of do not 
change His teachings in the least; nor they cannot be His teaching any more 
than my walking on the water would be a part of my message to you. 

W — Were they not inspirations? 

C. H. — Yes! Every word of the Bible is an inspiration, either from 
God or from the devil ; either direct or indirect; but as it is, Jesus did not 
teach us to walk on the water, or to raise the dead to life. But of what He 
did teach us, did He not continually teach us to practice good morals? 
Did He ever teach an immoral act? Did He ever teach us in any place that 
we should practice immorality? 

W. — I guess you are right there. I never heard such illustrations 
before. 

C. H. — Then, when we find anyone preaching morality, is not that person 
following the teachings of Jesus? And is not that person prepared for ever- 
lasting happiness? 


god’s mind is everlasting. 


449 


W. — That person enjoys more happiness here in this world; good moral 
people take more comfort than those hypocrites — those heathens do. 

C. H. — Then, suppose there is no hereafter; good moral people receive a 
reward right here in this life for their practice of good moral words and 
works. 

W. — That has always been my teachings. 

C. H. — Now, don’t you know that nine out of every ten of the people of 
this world will not trust their own judgment, but must believe what some 
educated person tells them, even though good judgment will not accept it? 

W. — Yes; ninety-nine out of a hundred are that way. 

C. H. — Then why not teach them to live a Christian life, that they may 
receive the enjoyment of this present life, even if there is no hereafter? 

W. — I don’t say that Christianity makes them enjoy life better, but it is 
the practice of good morals. 

C. H. — Yes, morality is Christianity — my kind of Christianity, anyhow. 

W. — That is all right if it is Christianity, and if it had been taught so 
years ago I would always have been a Christian. 

C. H. — What is Christianity but to walk in the doctrine of Christ? and if 
Jesus Christ w r as a teacher of true moralism how can we walk in His doctrine 
except we practice just what He taught us? 

W. — That is right. 

C. II. — As for everlasting happiness, what is God but a great and ever- 
lasting mind of great power and ruling? 

W. — That is all that I can see — a supreme ruling power — and it must be 
governed by a great ruling mind. 

C. H. — Then, if God created man in his own image, what could He 
create in His own image except the mind of man? 

W. — That is all that I can see. 

C. H. — Then, if God’s mind is everlasting — if He has created the mind 
of man in his own image — is not man’s mind everlasting? 

W. — It must be to be in the image of God. 

C. H. What is it about man that realizes pleasure, happiness, sorrow 

or pain except the mind? 

W. — Yes,, without the mind the body could not realize anything. 

C. H. — Then what is there about a person to pass into eternity except 
the mind? 

W. — I guess that is all. 

C. H. Then why not teach the world to cultivate the mind in the best 

of morality, to enjoy the sweetest enjoyment of mortal life, and to pass into 
everlasting eternity with such a cultivated mind? 

W. You are right there. We should give the world such teachings. 

There is no infidel or anyone else of good judgment that would reject such 
teachings. There is truly a reality in your kind of Christianity. 


450 


HOW ARE WE LED? 


ANOTHER INFIDEL. 

Another friend now meets me. 

I call the disbeliever my friend. I am a friend to the disbeliever. I 
am a friend to the sinner, yet I hate iniquity either in word or works and in 
its slightest form, and I love to show my friends that they are sinners and 
wherein they sin. And I love to show them that their sins are in their 
nature ; and then I love to show them wherein the weight of their sin rests 
upon the shoulders of their mother; and then I can show them how to throw 
the burden of each and every immoral word or act of their own children off 
of their own shoulders if they will only begin in time. 

Another friend asks me : Friend, “how dare you talk as you do about 
he Bible and yet claim to be a Christian?” 

C. H. The only way to shun a fault is to know that it is a fault. The 

only way that I can teach you to shun a fault is to show you the fault, and 
to point it out so plain that you can see it. If I show you 3-our own fault 
you will not claim it to be a fault, but will study some way to show me that 
it is no fault. But if I show you the very same fault in someone else I can 
easily make you see it. 

F. — Have you any faults? 

C. H. — Certainly. Every human being has faults. You read my 
writings and you can point out many faults. Yet I did not see them when I 
put them there. The best people on the face of the earth have faults. 
Talmadge is thought to be the best Christian preacher in the United States. 
By some he is thought to be the greatest preacher on the face of the earth. 
Yet he is not perfect — he has faults. 

F. — Bare you point out faults in Talmadge or in his sermons? 

C. H. — Certainly. That is what I am here for. That is what Jesus 
was crucified for. Am I any better than Jesus, that I should shirk from 
duty to shun crucifixion? 

F. — Show me a fault in Talmadge’s sermons. 

C. H. — I never saw Mr. Talmadge — never read many of his sermons, 
but in the sermon that he gave us on the 18th of September, 1898, he pointed 
out different large sins which have been pointed out to us for hundreds of 
years — not only been pointed out, but have been strictly forbidden not only 
for hundreds of years, but for thousands of years. 

Those crimes have been forbidden and our world has been taught for 
thousands of years to shun them, and now he points out the same crimes, but 
he does not teach us that those crimes are bred, born and cultivated in human 
nature. He does not teach us that those things are rooted there and forms a 
part of human nature, and the only way to get rid of those things is to try to 
improve human nature from its creation. He does not teach us that the 
very smallest of faults and errors visible are the roots and fibers of the greater 
crimes, and to root out the roots and fibers does away with the larger crimes. 
No, he does not teach us that to do away with the limbs and branches of 


stLIu PEOPLE ON EARTH HAVE FAULTS. 


*51 


iniquity we must do away with the roots and fibers from whence they come. 

He virtually teaches us that we must be born and raised in sin and 
iniquity that we may have something to repent of, and then we must repent 
in order to gain heaven. 

He tells us that those wrongs that we have practiced for years are sins 
and that we must not commit them. He might just as well go into the corn- 
field and tell the ground that the foulness there is weeds and that it must not 
grow them. He might just as well tell the ground that it must not grow the 
weeds that have got firmly rooted there, as to tell the sinner that he must 
not commit the sin that is firmly rooted in his nature — especially swearing. 

In the seventh paragraph of his sermon lie says: “Was there ever a time 
when sin was so defiant? Were there ever before so many fists lifted toward 
God telling him to come on if he dare? Look at the blasphemy. Would it 
be possible for anyone to calculate the number of times that the name of the 
Almighty God and Jesus Christ are every day taken irreverently on the lips? 
Profane swearing is as much forbidden by the law as theft, or arson, or 
murder, yet who executes it? Profanity is worse than theft, or arson, or 
murder, for these crimes are attacks on humanity — that is an attack on God.” 

Rev. Talmadge sa} T s that theft, arson and murder are attacks on the 
human being — our fellow man — whilst swearing is an attack on God, and for 
that reason swearing is a greater crime than theft, arson or murder. 

Now, let me ask, Who is he preaching to? Who is he trying to teach 
the evil in the practice of profanity? If our better class of people — if our 
highest educated church members use profane language he is all right in the 
language that he uses, though the root of all evil is away below profanity. 

If Rev. Talmadge is trying to teach and reform the poorer class of 
people — the heathen of our own country, or the uneducated Christian or 
church members — let him use language that those people can understand, or 
else let this class of people not consider him such a great preacher, for all 
that makes him such a great preacher is the great language that he uses. 

In his eighth paragraph he says: “I indict (accuse) this evil (profane 
language) as the regicide (the murderer of a king), the fratricide (the murderer 
of a brother), the patricide (the murderer of a nobleman), the matricide (the 
murderer of a mother), the uxorcide (the murderer of a wife).” 

“Profanity.” Rev. Talmadge accuses this evil crime as the murderer of 
a king, nobleman, brother, mother and wife. Rut he speaks in such a high 
language that I a3k: Who can understand his sermon — of what good is a 
sermon when it cannot be understood by those whom he is addressing? There 
is not one in twenty that hears him speak or that reads his sermon that under- 
stands his words. Can a man be a great preacher that preaches for God 
alone to understand — that preaches words that the human being cannot 
understand? 

Rev. Talmadge is a highly educated man, and can use words that only 
the best can understand, and for that reason they call him a great preacher. 
If I could use such great words I also would be called a great man. But if 


HOW ARE WE LEU? 


iSZ 

I were to say, in our plain native language, that profanity is a murderer of 
father, mother, wife and brother, sister, nobleman and king, the people that 
call themselves religious would laugh me to scorn, as Jesus was scorned by 
the people of his day that called themselves religious. Jesus was not an 
educated man. He had not book learning. His high cognition was direct 
from God; because He executed His own judgment instead of believing all 
that He read or heard. 

F. — But you said that you are here for to show errors in the Bible. 

C. H. — So I am. Jesus had the Old Testament that we have, and per- 
haps the books of the Apocrapha or other books that we know nothing about. 
He used His own judgment as to what was the inspiration of God and what 
was the inspiration of the devil. 

What He considered the inspiration of God, He “opened and expounded;” 
what He considered the inspiration of the devil, He condemned and called it 
the traditions of man. 

Shall I hesitate or fear to do what Jesus did? There are traditions of 
man in the New Testament as well as in the Old, and much more in our Sun- 
day school lessons and other writings. 

We must use our own judgment as to what is right, for right is Christi- 
anity — right was the doctrine of Jesus. 

F. — But they crucified Jesus for teaching those things. 

C. H. — They have put many people to death since that time for trying 
to teach reformation to the world. But to-day our civil law gives us the 
privilege of free speech without crucifixion. Only the two last centuries has 
given us the privilege of free speech without being punished as a dissenter. 

F. — Then you think Talmadge is not such a good preacher? 

C. H. — Rev. Talmadge preaches good sermons, yet he is not perfect. 
We must not take all that he gives us, but use our own judgment. He con- 
tributes profanity as the base root of all evil and charges its origination to 
the profaner himself, whilst I contribute disobedience as the base root of 
all evil and charge its origination to the mother. 

You must use your own judgment as to which is right — Rev. Talmadge 
or me. I claim that the child inherits from the mother a disobedient nature, 
which requires the most attentive cultivation ; but through neglect of the 
mother’s watchful training the child soon learns to disobey her light and 
tender commands, which is thought to be of but little consequence, but they 
are of great consequence. Those trifling commands are their schooling. As 
they learn to obey or disobey those little trifling commands, so they will 
obey or disobey the greater commands all through life. Next, with the 
mother’s flattering craft, to shield her child from punishment, it learns to 
disobey its father’s commands and then lie about it, and oftentimes if the 
father thinks to punish the child the mother will interfere. Then it soon 
learns to disobey the commands of its teacher and others whom the mother 
says, “No teacher can ever lay hands on a child of mine.” Then, last of all, 
it learns to disobey God’s commands, which includes all righteousness, and it 


ALL MEN ARE POSSESSED OF FRAILTY. 


•*53 


learns to walk in the devil’s tracks, which include all manner of evil and 
which are punishable by civil law as well as by divine law. And then the 
mother weeps, but not over the crime that her child has done, but over the 
punishment that the child gets. This is more or less the custom of our entire 
country. All children are raised in more or less indulgence in disobedience. 

Rev. Talmadge says that profanity is the root of all evil and is planted 
in the bosom by the profaner. I say that the root of all evil is planted 
in the bosom of the profaner before he is old enough to use profane language. 
Yet profane language is used by many church members that would scorn to 
read my book. I say that such church members cannot be true Christians 
and indulge in such language. Let Rev. Talmadge preach to them; he cannot 
say enough to such Christians. 

F. — But you told Mr. W. that a part of the Bible was inspired by the 
devil. 

C. H. — I say the same yet. Search the Old Testament for what Jesus 
called the traditions of man, and see if they were not inspirations of the devil. 

F. — But you was speaking of the New Testament when you said that. 

C. H. — The New Testament was written by man as well as the Old, and 
all men are possessed of frailty, and frailty is an inspiration of the devil; and 
when Paul wrote, ‘ ‘By grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of your- 
selves:” “Not of works,” “It is the gift of God,” it was a piece of human 
frailty in Paul. 

F. — Is there anything else in the New Testament that is an inspiration 
from the devil? 

C. H. — Every thought that enters the human mind is an inspiration, 
either direct or indirect, from God or from the devil, and the New Testament 
was composed of those inspirations. Where the New Testament teaches us 
to practice morality as Christ teaches us, it is an inspiration from God, but 
where the New Testament teaches us that we are saved through faith regard- 
less of our practice in morality, it is human frailty or an inspiration from the 
devil. Precisely the same with Rev. Talmadge’s sermon, or any other sermon, 
if it teaches us to practice good morals in words and works it is an inspiration 
from God, but if it teaches us to depend upon faith, regardless of words and 
works, their teachings are an inspiration from the devil. 

We are taught that the New Testament is sacred and that it is an obscured 
sin to think aught against one word of it, but that is only man’s teachings. 
It is our privilege, and not only our privilege but our duty, to improve human 
nature and practice. It is the duty of every person that tries to live a Chris- 
tian life to try to teach the world to improve in words and works, and to try 
to live a better life than their parents, their teachers, their preachers, or even 
their Bible writers have lived. Live a better life than I myself am living. 
Let us teach advancing ideas and advancing improvements, and if it comes in 
contact with the New Testament we should no more fear the New Testament 
than we should fear Rev. Talmadge’s sermon in the newspaper. 

We should never change one word of the Bible in the least. We should 


454 


I10W ARK WE LED? 


be perfectly free to point out wherein it fails to push forth the moral teach- 
ings of Christ. 

F. — But where do you get the teachings of Christ? 

C. H. — The word “Christ” means “good.” The Christ that dwelt in the 
bosom of Jesus was the good mind of God that dwelt in him, and the Christ 
that dwells in you or I, that instructs you or I, is the good mind of that same 
God that dwells in our bosom just the same. 

They teach us that Christ was crucified, but when you see Him as I see 
Him you will see that good was crucified and put into the tomb just as the 
Bible tells us He was; and you will see that good arose and came out of the 
tomb just the same; and you could see that any good teachings, (regardless of 
where or at what date), are the teachings of Christ and are the inspirations 
from the very same God. The world crucified Christ (good) just for his good 
teachings. The world has always been trying to crucify Christ (good) wher- 
ever good teachings have been found, and to-day the world would crucify the 
Christ (good) that dwells in me if the civil law did not protect me. 

F. — But wherein does the New Testament fail to uphold the teachings 
of Christ? 

C. H. — Rev. Talmadge is a great preacher — got his great name because 
he is a highly educated man and can use such great language. St. Paul was 
a great preacher just the same — got his great name just because he was a 
highly educated man and could use such high language. But St. James, 
though not such a highly educated man and had not such a great name as St. 
Paul, followed closer after the teaching of Christ than Paul did. Paul laid 
aside good morals and said: “By grace are ye saved through faith, and that 
not of yourselves; it is the gift of God.” James said: “Faith without works 
is dead.” 

‘ ‘The life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith in the Son of 
God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” 

How many we have who pay but little attention to the practice of good 
morals, either in words or works, but live wholly by the faith of the Son of God. 

Jacob took a great step from heathenism toward righteousness, and tried 
to raise his family right. Moses took another great step that way, and tried 
to compel the whole Jewish nation to leave off heathenism and do right. He 
wrote his works down that they might long be practiced. But Jacob was far 
from reaching the point that he started for — perfection. Moses started that 
way but never gained the point. Others, following after Moses, tried to lead 
the children of Israel farther from heathenism and nearer to perfection, and 
they wrote their works down that they might long be remembered, but none 
ever reached perfection. Heaven is perfection. Jesus took a greater step 
that way, but he failed to write down his works and ways. Paul and the 
other apostles thought to write down the ways, works and teachings of Jesus, 
but they stepped away back in the rear of Jesus. They wrote his works and 
teachings to the best of their ability, yet they were far behind Jesus in per- 
fection — yet they are far below Jesus in heaven. 


FAITH WITHOUT WORKS IS DEAD. 


455 


Shall we stop and stand perfectly still right where Paul left us, or shall 
we try to advance in wisdom — in knowledge of righteousness toward perfec- 
tion — toward heaven, in pursuit of Jesus? 

James, one of the New Testament writers, what does he say about living 
by faith only? He practically said, your words tell us that you have great 
faith in the teachings of Jesus and eternal life ; but you sustain your words 
by no visible proof. I prove my faith so plain that people can see that I 
have great faith in the teachings of Jesus, even when I do not speak of it. 
Let us see just how James words that: “What doth it profit .... though a man 
say he hath faith, and have not works? Can faith save him?. . . .Faith, if it 
hath not works, is dead, being alone .... show me thy faith without thy works, 
and I will show thee my faith by my works. . . .Wilt thou know, 0 vain man, 
that faith without works is dead?” 

Paul wanted to gain many souls to follow him, and education showed 
him that by teaching folks that they could gain heaven by faith alone in the 
great power of Jesus Christ, let their words or works be what they might, he 
could gain a much larger congregation than James could gain by teaching 
them that their words and works must be of good morals to accompany 
their faith. 

Our highly educated preachers to-day seem to understand that they can 
gain many more converts by preaching so much on faith without works, than 
they could gain by teaching them that the practice of morality is the way to 
gain heaven. 

Paul preached and wrote to bring the world into faith in Jesus taking 
them to heaven. 

James preached and wrote to bring the world into the doctrine of Christ, 
which is all good morals, in both words and works. Paul preached and wrote 
of miracles and parables that Jesus performed, but slighted his teachings of 
moral words and works. James preached and wrote of the good morals that 
Jesus taught the world to practice. And the world has always rather take 
the doctrine of Paul, that they may indulge in all kind of evils, than to take 
the doctrine of James, which is the doctrine of Christ — the practice of good 
morals, in words and works. 

F. — How dare you talk so about Paul, and at the same time claim to be 
a Christian? 

C. H. — In the twelfth chapter of Luke, Jesus said: “Why even of 
yourselves judge not what is right? ” He mean’t me as well as His apostles; 
He was talking to you and I when He said that. ‘ ‘Why can’t you of your- 
self judge what is right?” 

I again ask you, shall we stand precisely still where the apostles left us, 
or shall we try to advance toward heaven and try to make a heaven below, on 
this earth, wherein we can cultivate our mind, that we may better enjoy the 
heaven above through all eternity? 

When we have accomplished perfection in righteousness, in those that 
want to be Christians, Christ will dwell in the bosom of each, and we will 


4 


456 HOW ARE WE LED? 

have a perfect heaven on earth. Then the prophesy of the angel will be ful- 
filled, and Christ will reign King on this earth, and all the righteous in the 
last days shall dwell in a heaven on this earth, and pass right from the heaven 
on this earth to a greater heaven in all eternity. 

With this faith I have no more fear to criticise Paul’s writings than I 
have to criticise Moses’ writings ; I have no more fear to criticise Moses’ 
writings than I have to criticise the writings of the great men of our present 
day ; I have no more fear to criticise the writings of the great men of our 
present day than I have to criticise the words of our little men of the pres- 
ent day. We are all of one flesh — we are all of one body of humanity — we 
are all possessed of humane frailty. No person in the world is perfect ; all 
express faults and errors ; and the only way to improve those faults and errors is 
to notice them and point them out, and teach the world to avoid them — and 
to teach the world to substitute them with good morals. 

F. — Will the world ever accept of such a doctrine? 

C. H. — Our world was in complete heathernism; all indulging in immor- 
ality. Once in a while one would spring up who liked to see the practice of 
good morals. They were called just, or righteous; the word ‘ ‘moral” was 
not then known. 

Moses, a lover of good morals, took a great step out of heathernism and 
toward morality. (It was the Christ that dwelt in his own bosom that caused 
him to do so; but the word “Christ” was not yet known. It is “that Christ” 
that we should worship ; it is ‘ ‘ that Christ ” that we should pray to, the 
“Christ” [mind of God] that dwells in your own bosom; it is that “Christ” 
that you should have great faith in taking your soul to heaven ; it was that 
Christ [true mind of God] and THAT CHRIST ONLY that dwelt in the 
body of Jesus. Let us pray to that Christ daily and more earnestly to come 
and more permanently establish His kingdom in your own bosom, and in the 
bosom of your children, then ‘ ‘you shall receive your reward in heaven. ” 
God establishes a great kingdom and does great works, but you must remem- 
ber that the greatest works that God or the devil does for the human being is 
to influence the mind to guide the mortal body to do their work ; and if you 
want God to establish His kingdom in the bosom of your children, your 
mortal body has got to do the work whilst God influences the mind.) 

When Moses took his great step from heathenism toward morality, many 
others followed with him ; but he only knew to instruct those whose nature 
had already formed, thinking to change their nature. 

As God had inspired the human mind, that in infancy was the time to 
improve the nature; they had taken to circumcision thinking to vow that their 
children — in years of maturity— should walk in morality, and that the act of 
circumcision should seal that vow. This they have practiced for thousands 
of years without perfect success. For hundreds of years they followed in 
Moses’ teachings until their words learned to say that they were walking in 
the tracks of Moses, whilst their words and works proved that they were 
gradually drifting back toward immorality. 


“THE WOLF AND THE LAMB SHALL FEED TOGETHER. 


157 


Jesus took a still greater step than Moses toward bringing the world into 
the practice of the very same good morals that Moses taught. And the very 
same God that inspired (dwelt in) the tongue of Abraham, Jacob and Moses, 

inspired (dwelt in) the tongue of Jesus, to cultivate nature in infancy 

“suffer the little child to come unto me” — to come unto morality; though 
the words morality and immorality were not then in use. 

The Apostles failed to give us the words — the sermons — the teachings of 
Jesus; but they told us of His miracles — His parables, and then gave us their 
own teachings, which seemed to think that baptism would do the same work 
that Moses thought circumcision would do; would make them practice 
morality. 

For many hundred years we have followed after the teachings of the 
Apostles, and with the very same result as that of the Jews. Our lips have 
learned to say that we are Christians, whilst our immoral words and works 
prove that we are not following in pursuit of Christ. 

We, like the Jews, are taught that we do improve the nature of our 
children by sprinkling water on them in infancy, regardless of morality; or 
by baptizing them in later years and instructing them to have great faith in 
Jesus Christ. 

When the world learns that Jesus, that Moses, that Abraham, Jacob 
and Joseph, and in fact all righteous people were moralists; when the 
world learns that Christianity, that righteousness, that justness, that 
Mohammedanism, and all kinds of religion is a step toward the practice of 
good morals; when the world learns that in order to perfect the human 
nature and to prepare it for heaven, we must cultivate that disposition from 
its conception by cultivating the disposition of the mother; we must train 
the mind from its very birth, by watchful and mild compulsion; we must 
teach the child from the beginning to walk in morality and to submit to 
denial. When the world sees that those who are raised to practice morality, 
in both word and work, are the true children of God — are the true Christians, 
true Israelites, true Mohammedanists, children of God; when the world 
learns to see that the true moralists are true religious people, then all religious 
denominations will become united. Then Christianity will grow throughout 
the whole world, as well in the heathen countries as in the Christianized 
nations. The Jew and the Gentile, the Catholic and the Protestant, the 
Christian and the Mohammedan will all be one in Christ, which is one in God: 
for Christ and God are one. Jesus was not Christ, but the mind of God that 
governed the words and works of Jesus, was Christ. When the world learns 
what constitutes Christ and what constitutes Christianity, then < ‘the wolf ' 
(in religion) and the lamb (in religion) shall feed together.” All shall be one. 


458 


HOW ARE WE LED? 


CHAPTER VI 

My son’s visit. His upbraiding" me. I laughed, and the world laughed with me. 

I cried, but the world cried not. Two Sunday-school quarterlies. 

My son, the school teacher, made me a visit. During this visit he up- 
braided me for writing this book; he said that I had no education and that I 
gave out crude ideas. He also said that my book would not be read for the 
reason that it would not suit the mind of the world. He said that in a poets 
writings the poet said, “I laughed, and the world laughed with me; I cried, 
but the world cried not.” My son said, “by this you see that you must 
always please public opinion if you would be popular, then when you laugh 
the world will laugh with you. ” He said, ‘ ‘you must never show to the peo- 
people their faults or you will make them mad, for it is natural for people 
to get mad when you show them their faults.” He says, “how long would 
I stay in the schoolroom if I were to show my pupils their faults?” 

I asked my son two questions, the first one was : ‘ ‘Who instituted 

Sunday as the Sabbath day?” His answer was as all others answer, “Jesus 
Christ and his Apostles instituted that change.” I told him different and 
showed him that the Apostle Paul said: “If Jesus had given them rest, then 
would He not afterward have spoken of another day.” (Heb. 4:8.) This 
proves to us that some wanted another rest day — was it to be a Sabbath of 
worship or simply a rest? Paul said plainly that it was neither. “If Jesus 
had given them rest, would not he have spoken of another day? ” This was 
near the close of Paul’s teachings, and yet Sunday had not been spoken of. 
My son said that he could find proof that Jesus and his Apostles instituted 
the Sunday Sabbath. I told him that he could find no proof in the Bible, for 
Sunday was made Sabbath three hundred and sixty-five years after Jesus was 
crucified; and when he went home he was to send me his proof. 

My next question to my son was, “how old was Jesus when he was cruci- 
fied?” His answer was, “he was thirty-three years old.” I picked up my 
old Bible to run over the records, but he said that they were not correct, for 
they had just gone over those records in their Sunday school. After he went 
home he sent me a quarterly lesson book from two different Sunday schools, 
both for the quarter of April, May and June, 1898. Let me say here that 
I had a pamphlet printed, that contained those records, which I gave to some 
of my friends in Ohio, some two years previous to the date of this quarterly, 
which they took into their Sunday school for criticising, so the Sunday school 
leaders have had plenty of time to fix up something to rebut against it. But 
I have shown to the world that people will go to extremes ; and that those who 
will tell a lie will print a lie, as the printing of the infidel and of the preacher 
in my previous work. We cannot believe a thing just because it is printed. 
Don’t believe my work just because it is printed, but read and think. 


DIFFERENCES IN THE DATES GIVEN. 


459 


When my son sent me these quarterlies, he wrote me the following 
letter: 

“October 2, 1898. 

“Dear Father: — I send you under separate cover two ‘quarterlies,’ which 
gives dates that you will see do not agree with the marginal dates of the 
Bible. You will see according to them that Christ was crucified in the year 
30, A. D., and as He was born in the latter part of the year 4, B. C., that 
would make him 33 years old, as I told you first. Now I don’t pretend to 
know which is right. 

“As to the other question you ask me, I know nothing. I don’t know 
one-tenth as much about the Bible as you do, but I know that it is almost 
impossible to suggest any doctrine but what some church believes it. You 
have studied the Bible while I have studied church doctrines. 

“You have found where some church doctrine does not agree with the 
Bible, so has hundreds of other people, and the result is hundreds of other 
churches, because no two can understand the Bible alike. 

“The Protestants claim that the Catholics are at fault because the mem- 
bers must believe what they are told to believe and are not allowed to inter- 
pret the Bible to suit themselves. The same thing will apply to every 
church in existence. The leaders make the doctrine, the members must fol- 
low; but most of the members don’t know even their own church doctrine, 
and very few indeed know the doctrine of other churches. 

‘ ‘Yours as ever, 

“Warren Sanders.” 

In my son’s letter he said, “you have studied the Bible, but I have 
studied the church doctrines,” and “the Protestants claim that the Catholics 
are at fault because the members must believe the Bible as their leaders inter- 
pret it; but the same thing will apply to every church in existence,” and 
when I began to study the Bible I found it the case with our church. Our 
leaders thought that we must all believe the Bible as they interpret it. 

After reading my son’s letter I picked up one of the quarterlies and 
opened to the first lesson: 

“By M. C. Hazard, Ph. D., editor. Lesson 1, April 3, 1898. Mat. 
15:21-31. ‘Then Jesus went thence, and departed into the coasts of Tyre and 
Sidon,’ etc. Time — summer of A. B. 29.” 

After each lesson in this quarterly the date of the time that Jesus per- 
formed those acts are given. 

He dates the time of the acts spoken of in this lesson as being in the 
summer of 29, A. D. The dates found in the Bible are 32, A. D. 

“Lesson 2. Mat. 16:21-28: ‘From that time forth began Jesus to show 
unto his disciples how that He must go into Jerusalem .... and be killed,’ 
etc. Time (soon after the close of the last lesson) summer, 29, A. D.” 
The Bible records 32, A. D. 

“LessonS. Mat. 17:1-9. ‘And after six days Jesus taketh Peter, James 
and John,’ etc. Time (six days after last lesson) summer, 29, A. D.” 


460 


HOW ARE WE LED? 


Bible records year 32, A. H. They tell us that they have found the records 
so close that they have found those transactions to be only six days apart; 
but they cannot tell what day of the month it was, neither can they tell the 
Jewish name of that month. They get those transactions six.days apart from 
the Bible — the very first words of their lesson: “after six days.” 

“Lesson 4. Mat. 18:21-35. ‘Then came Peter to Him, and said, Lord, 
how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him, ’ etc. Time 
autumn, 29, A. D.” Bible records 32, A. D. 

The fifth lesson is for “May 1, 1898 (and quotes). Mat. 21.6-16. 
‘And the disciples went, and did as Jesus commanded them, and brought the 
ass and the colt,’ etc. Time Sunday, April 2, and Monday April 3, A. D. 
30.” Bible records are A. H. 33. 

Here they have given us the month, and the day of the month in the 
Julian calendar, but not in the Hebrew calendar in which they should be 
found. 

After comparing the Hebrew calendar with the Julian calendar for fifty- 
six successive years, I ask any person of good judgment , can any living soul 
go back nineteen hundred years and compare the Julian calendar with the 
Hebrew calendar, and point out those dates in the Julian calendar? And 
then remember that to-day we are not living under the Julian calendar; we 
have dropped that and have taken up the Gregorian calendar. To-day we are 
living under the Gregorian calendar; they would have to compare again and 
make other changes before they could bring it into our records. Can it be 
done? 

The sixth lesson is for May 8th, and quotes from “Mat. 22:1-14. ‘And 
Jesus .... said, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king,’ etc. 
Time Tuesday, April 4, A. D. 30.” Bible records are A. B. 33. 

“Lesson 7. Mat. 24:42-51. ‘Watch, therefore, for ye know not what 
hour your Lord doth come,’ etc. Time Tuesday evening, April 4, A. D. 
30.” Bible records the year 33, A. B. 

“Lesson 8. Mat. 25:31-46: ‘When the Son of Man shall come in His 
glory,’ etc. Time as in lesson 7.” Bible records 33 A. D. 

All of the June lessons in this Sunday-school Quarterly are dated April 
7, A. B. 30, whilst the Bible shows that those things were transacted on the 
14th day of Nisan in the year 33, A. D. 

Now, I ask any person of good judgment, how did the month of Nisan 
correspond with the month of April in that year 18*68 years ago? and was it 
the year 30 or the year 33, A H.? 

The other Sunday-school Quarterly that my son sent me has one page 
that is filled with periods, localities, persons, and subdivisions. I have 
placed this page in my book just as I found it in the quarterly, that you may 
get your own big Bible and look for yourself. 


SUNDAY-SCHOOL LESSON QUARTERLY. 


461 


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TABLE OF PERIODS IN THE LIFE OF CHRIST. 


462 


HOW ARE WE LED? 


The first period that the writer of this Sunday-school Quarterly gives us, 
he says is for “thirty years of preparation,” yet it includes thirty-one full 
years, beside a fraction of the year 27, A. D., and a fraction of the year 
6, B. C. He tells us that Jesus was baptized in the year 27. The Bible 
shows us that He was baptized about New Year’s day, between the years 26 
and 27. They agree that the Bible records are right up to this date. The 
records of Mark tell us that Jesus was baptized in the year 26 ; the records 
of Luke tell us that He was baptized in the year 27. Luke 3:23 says: 
“Jesus himself began to be about thirty years of age.” The fact is Jesus 
began to be about thirty years old on Christmas day in the year 26. He was 
also in the beginning of His thirtieth year after New Year’s day in the year 
27. He must have been baptized on or about that New Year’s day, Julian 
calendar. 

Now they admit that the records found in the Bible margin up to this 
date are correct; can they say that the records of the Bible for the next 
seven years are only three years and four months, and then agree that all 
thereafter are correct. 

They do not tell us that for over three years from the time that Jesus 
was baptized at different times He was tempted of the devil, or that He was 
studying on righteousness before He did much preaching. 

The next period that they give us is from the baptism of Jesus, in the 
year 26 or 27, to the rejection of Jesus at Nazareth which they say was in 
the year 28, but the Bible records it in the year 31. Luke 4:16, 28-31. 
Here they put four years into one because it is passed over and slightly 
sketched by the Bible. The third and fourth chapter of Luke sketches His 
life for nearly four years, and tells us of different times that He was tempted 
of the devil, and the most of the people think it was only forty days. 

The next period they give, is from the rejection at Nazareth to the feeding 
of the five thousand in 29, A. D. , Luke 9:14. The records in the Bible tell 
us this was in 32, A. D. 

The next period they give us is from the feeding of the five thousand to 
the anointing by Mary, A. D. 30, Luke 7 :45-48. The Bible records give 
this in the year 33, A. D. 

The remaining periods that they give us are of the passion — the day of 
crucifixion, and the forty days of resurrection, all in the year 30 A. D. The 
records in the Bible give them as in the year 33, A. H. 

Shall we believe those writers just because they have written these 
things, or shall we reflect upon those records and use our own judgment? 
They can print anything they please to carry their points, and call it an 
every day sin or shortcoming, and that makes it right. 

Please study Mat. 1 :18. “Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this 
wise-” Margin records. “ The fifth year before the common account called 
Anno Domini.” 

The first period given in this Sunday-school Quarterly begins with the 
appearance of the angel to Zacharias: this date was fifteen months before 


DIFFERENCE IN OLD AND NEW BIBLES. 


463 


the date I have just given — the birth of Jesus, which is found in Luke 1 :5-38. 
Mat. 2:1. “Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the 
days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the East to (2) 
worship Him.” Margin records. “ The fourth year before the common 
account called Anno Domini. ” The second chapter of Luke tells us that 
Jesus was born in the fifth year B. C., and when we come to the 21st verse it 
changes the records and tells us that He was circumcised in the fourth year 
B. C. And at the 42nd verse of the same chapter it changes again and tells 
us that in the year 8, B. C., when he was twelve years old, they went to 
Jerusalem.” The 22d verse says, “when the days of her purification” 
came. Margin record the year four, B. C. This is the day called “Epi- 
phany, ” right at the commencement of the year four; we keep it on the 
sixth day of January. Mat. 3:1. “ In those days came John the Baptist 

preaching. ” Margin record. “ A. D. , 26. ” This date changes to “A. D. ,27,” 
at the 13th verse. “ Then came Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John, 
to be baptized. ” 

I have an old Bible that has been kept as an old relic and handed down 
from generation to generation by my forefathers. How old this Bible is I 
cannot tell, but its paper and its style of binding shows that it has passed 
many years. This old Bible, in the book of Matthew, gives the baptism of 
Jesus in the year 26, A. D. My new Bible gives this date 27, A. D. By 
comparing those records in the two Bibles I have found two places that has 
been corrected. This proves to me that the records were diligently searched 
years ago and placed in the Bible margin. It also proves to me that they 
have been diligently researched before this correction in my new Bible. Now 
can it be possible that we have got men smart enough to go back and rake up 
old records proving that three years of Jesus’ time was put into seven long 
years of record? 

Mat. 4:1 “ Then was Jesus led up of the spirit into the wilderness to be 

tempted of the devil.” The Bible does not give us this date, but it was some 
time after He was baptized, and the next two verses tell us that “ when He 
had fasted forty days and nights,” “the tempter came” and “said, if thou 
be the son of God command that these stones be made bread.” 

This is once that Jesus was tempted of the devil: but how long after He 
was baptized we don’t know, but it was after the forty days fasting. The 
fifth verse of this chapter says ‘ ‘ then the devil took him up into the holy 
city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple, and said unto him, if thou 
be the son of God, cast thyself down. ” 

This is another time that Jesus was tempted of the devil; how far apart 
those times were we know not, but it was another time and in another place. 

The eighth verse says, ‘ ‘ again the devil took him up into an exceeding 
high mountain, and showeth him all the kingdoms of the world (9), and said 
unto him, all these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and wor- 
ship me.” 

Here is the third time and the third place that Jesus was tempted of the 


464 


HOW ARE WE LED? 


devil. How far apart those times were we cannot tell, but they were inside 
of three years after His baptism. 

Now we find the first part of this chapter to cover over a space of three 
years, and the very next verse alone covers over a space of one year with 
margin records for each verse. 

Mat. 4:12. “Now when Jesus had heard that John was cast into 
prison, he departed into Galilee. ” Margin Record, “A. D. 30.” 

Mat. 4:13. “And leaving Nazareth, He came and dwelt in Capernaum. ” 
Margin Record, “A. D. 31.” 

Now we find here that one verse is all the record that we get of Jesus’ 
doings for one whole year, without any explanation whatever. In other 
places we will be reading along and all at once we will drop back a year or 
two without any explanation. 

Mat. 14:1: “At that time Herod, the Tetrarch heard of the fame of 
Jesus, and said unto his servants, this is John the baptist. ” Margin 
Record, “A. D. 32.” 

Mat. 14:3. “ For Herod had laid hold on John and bound him, and 

put him in prison.” Margin Record. “A. D. 30.” 

Mat. 14:10: ‘And he sent and beheaded John (12), and his disciples 
came and took up the body and buried it, and went and told Jesus. ” Margin 
Record. “A. D. 30.” 

One verse lower down, and two years later. Mat. 14:13. “When 
Jesus heard of it, he departed thence by ship into a desert place.” Margin 
Record, “A. D. 32.” 

Mat. 18:35: “ So like shall my heavenly Father do also unto you.” 

Margin Record “A. D. 32,” Mat. 19:1. “When Jesus had finished these 
sayings, He departed from Galilee. ” Margin Ptecord, “A. D. 33.” The 
remaining ten chapters are all dated “A. D. 33.” 

Over two years ago I put the first part of my book into circulation with 
my remarks that Jesus must have been in his thirty-seventh year when He 
was crucified. This fall I received those records trying to prove that He was 
only thirty-three. I have plainly shown those records and ask every per- 
son to read both sides and use their own judgment. But the greatest that I 
ask is this: 

Wherein does this argument benefit us a particle? Wherein does the 
age of Jesus affect His teachings in the least? Wherein do those records 
hinder or aid us in the least, in trying to do right, in trying to talk right, in 
trying to teach others to do right and to talk right? Wherein do those 
records cause us in the least to do wrong or talk wrong? The last one of 
those questions is the only one that I can answer. Those records cause us to 
argue, strife and lie, just for the sake of having it as we first said that it 
was. Rather than to say that I see it different from what I used to, we will 
lie, contrive and deceive, to make it appear as we first told it. This is the 
case with the world in every thing that comes up ; Church members will do 


ANOTHER INFIDEL. 


465 


the same and consider it only an every day sin or short coming; and Jesus 
smoothes it over for the Christian. 

If all our churches and all of our religious workers would lay aside such 
arguments and such studies, and dwell wholly on trying to do right and talk 
right, dwell wholly upon teaching others to do right and talk right, and con- 
stantly study upon when is the proper time to teach others. They would all 
be a trying to teach one thing. They would all be a trying to teach what 
Jesus taught. All religious sects would be united in Christ. (Not in 
Jesus but in Christ. Christ is the true mind of God: Jesus was the tem- 
ple that Christ dwelt in. ‘ ‘The lion (in religion) and the lamb (in religion) 
will feed together.” 

Let us study upon what is right and how to act it — how to talk it — how 
to teach it, and how to accomplish it. Let us study on what is wrong, and 
how to avoid it. 


CHAPTER VII. 

Another infidel. The book of the Apocrypha. The different degrees in heath- 
enism. How many degrees in Christianity? Who teaches the different 
degrees in heathenism? 

Now, I meet another infidel. 

Let me say here that we had a fire in our town that burned nearly one- 
half of the business part of the town. It must have been burned for plunder, 
or for money in some way. 

After the fire I talked with different ones about the fire, and about what 
we should do with the one who set the fire, could we know who he was. 

I fell in company with an infidel: I will give our conversation in 
regard to the fire: 

C. H. — Hello, M, you’ve been having quite afire in town? 

M. — Yes, we had a big one. 

C. H.— Have you any idea how it originated? 

M. Oh it was set by an achiever; it was set in three different places, 

and one place was put out, and they found the shavings that he cut with a 
knife to start it. 

C. H. What ought they to do with him, if they could him find out? 

M. — Oh, lock him up I suppose. 

C. H. I was talking with Mr. J. yesterday, and I asked him that question, 

and he said that they ought to throw him in the fire and have burned him with 
the rest. Mr. J. said he was a heathen and ought to be burned. 

M. — Well I guess he was right. 

C. H. — Do you consider him a heathen? 

M. — Why, that was a heathenish act. 


466 


HOW ARE WE LED? 


C. H. — Well now do you know that you help to raise those heathens? 

M. — How so? I have no boys. 

C. H. — Oh, gracious! Do you think that heathenism lies m the hearts of 
the boys alone? The root of the first heathenish act ever committed was first 
planted in the mind of woman. If you want to cleanse the human heart, and 
clean out heathenism, cleanse the heart of your girls first. But wherein you 
are helping to raise those heathens, is in the infidelic teachings that you spread 
abroad. 

M. — How do you make that out? 

C. H. — Why, when you put down or deny Christ, you are building up 
heathenism. 

M. — Oh, gracious! there are thousands of people who are not heathens; 
neither are they Christians. 

C. H. — No. There are only two classes of people, the heathen and the 
Ct ristian. There are no middle class. 

M. — Why, there are many classes of people. 

0. H. — No! There can not be. There are only two classes, the children 
of God, and the children of the devil, and there can not be any other. 

M. — But what do you do with the Jews? They are not Christians, are 
they heathens? 

0. H. — Why, goodness, it is not the name that we give them that makes 
them children of God, or children of the devil. 

In the old Bible times the children of God were first called just — and 
righceous, and the devil’s children were called unjust, and unrighteous, and 
had we stuck to those names to this day we would have been all right. 
But the devil soon studied up a scheme to mix his children and God’s children 
together, and under one name. 

M. — How was that? 

C. H. — They divided them up, and called God’s children “Israelites,” 
and the devil’s children “heathens,” and everything that was not an Israelite 
was a heathen regardless of nation or country. But they soon learned that 
there were just people among the heathens, and they were God’s children; 
they also found that there were unjust people among the Israelites, and they 
were the devil’s children, regardless of their name or nation. 

The prophet, in the books of the Apocrypha 11, Esdras 2:33-37, was 
sent to God’s children. He went to the Israelites, “but when I came unto 
them, they sat me at naught, and despised the commandment of the Lord. 

(Then turning to the heathen, he said :) 

34. And, therefore, I say unto you, 0 ye heathen, that hear and under- 
stand. Look for your shepherd, he shall give you everlasting rest. 

35. Be ready to the reward of the kingdom, for the everlasting HgH 
shall shine upon you for evermore. 

36 . Flee the shadow of this world, receive the joyfulness of your glory . 
I testify my Saviour openly. 


god’s children among the heathens. 


467 


37. O, receive the gift that is given yon, and be glad, giving tbanks 
unto Him that hath called you to the heavenly kingdom. 

38. Arise up and stand. 

39. Which are departed from the shadow of the world, and have 
received glorious garments of the Lord. 

40. Take thy number, O Zion, and shut up those of thine that are 
clothed in white, which have fulfilled the law of the Lord. 

41. The number of thy children whom thou longest for, is fulfilled. 
And as this prophet looked over the world, he said: 

41. I, Esdras, saw upon the Mount Zion a great people, whom I could 
not number, and they all praised the Lord with songs. 

44. So I asked the angel, and said, sir, what are these? 

45. He answered and said unto me, these be they that have put off the 
mortal clothing, and put on the immortal, and have confessed the name of 
God; now are they crowned, and receive palms. 

47. Then began I greatly to commend them that stood so stiffly for the 
name of the Lord. 

Here we find that there were God’s children among the heathens, but 
they were not known without the name. Then we turn to look at the Jews, 
and we find that there were the devil’s children mingled in with the Jews, 
but they were called Israelites, and they were called Sadducees. 

The very same to-day. We find righteous people outside the church, 
and we find the devil’s children mingled in the church. They are called 
hypocrites. Yet there are only two classes of people — God’s children and 
the devil’s children. 

In another place in those books of Apocrypha a king’s subject said: 
“Our king has become a Jew.” Yet he had not joined the Israelites, nor 
left his own country — his own throne. He had only experienced their doc- 
trine, and the only way to express that idea was to say that he had become 
a Jew. 

As long as we have nothing to read and are taught nothing except the 
Hebrew record, we know nothing about any just people — God’s children — 
except what were found in the Hebrew nation. 

M. — What are those books of Apocrypha? 

C. H. — They are religious teachings, a little older than the New Testa- 
ment, with about three-fourths as many pages as those of the New Testa- 
ment, but according to the amount of reading in them they give us more 
instructions how to gain heaven than the Bible gives us. 

M. — Why were they not put into the Bible? 

C. H. — They were not popular enough. 

M. — What is popularity? 

C. H. — Why, what pleases the people. Anything that pleases the 
people is popular. 

M. Why does not the books of the Apocrypha please the people? 

C. H. — Because they tell us that we must do right, must act right, must 


468 


now ARE WE LED ? 


talk right, and must teach right. They do not tell us so much about having 
great faith in some great thing taking us to heaven. This does not please 
the people — it is not popular. The Bible treats less on what we shall say 
and do, and it treats more on gaining heaven through having great faith in 
some great power taking us to heaven regardless of our words and works; 
and this is what pleases the people. If they can gain heaven and indulge in 
their everyday sins and shortcomings, that pleases them. That is why this 
book is not popular. 

My book will be the same way. My book will be a short-lived book, 
because I tell them not to depend so much on their great faith in Jesus 
Christ taking them to heaven, but to place their faith in the very same 
Christ that must dwell in their own bosom. HE will do the work that 
will take them to heaven if HE dwells there. This will not please the people, 
so my book will not be popular. ‘ ‘I laughed, and the world laughed with me ; 
I cried, but the world cried not.'’ I cannot laugh over my book, neither will 
the world laugh. I can cry over it, but the world will not cry with me, so I 
say that my book will not be popular. Christian persons have already told 
me that they would not read my book clear through for a million dollars — 
money could not hire them to read it. And all the reason is just because I 
teach them that Christ must find a dwelling place in their own bosom before 
they can ever gain heaven. 

A preacher that preaches the true doctrine of works is one whom “the 
world will not laugh with.” He will be considered one that is not up-to-date 
and must hold his peace. 

A preacher that will preach that our everyday sins and shortcomings are 
no sin to the believer, is an up-to-date preacher — a popular preacher, a 
preacher that the world will laugh with, and he will have a popular congre- 
gation. In his church you can find popular Christianity. 

M. — Well, you have given me quite a sermon; but what about those 
heathens that I am helping to raise? 

C. H. — You said that there are thousands of people who are not Chris- 
tians. I say they that are not Christians are all heathens — they that are not 
God’s children are all children of the devil. They are only of different 
degrees in heathenism. 

M. — How is that? 

C. H. — Do you know how many different degrees there are in the 
Masonic order? 

M. — Thirty- two or three; 1 don’t know but more; I know when a man 
gets up to the thirty-second degree he is pretty well up. 

C. H. — Do you know that a man can never get up to the thirty-second 
degree unless he has passed through the first and second degree? 

M. — Yes, we all know that. 

C. H. — Just so with heathenism. Heathenism has many different 
degrees, and no person ever gets up to the highest degree until they have 


DEGREES OF HEATHENISM. 


46& 


passed through all of the lower degrees, and the first degree is passed 
through before the child is out of the mother’s arms. 

M. — Where does the second degree come in? 

C. H. — When you are teaching them infidelity you are giving them the 
second degree of heathenism. 

M. — How is that? I never tell them to do anything wrong. 

C. H. — They go through a number of degrees before they get into any 
very bad works. But when you are telling them that there is no reality in 
religion you are imprinting in their mind what will never leave it. You are 
teaching them that there is nothing to live for except their own carnal 
lust; just by teaching them the infidelic doctrine, you are teaching them that 
let their lust ask what it may it must be satisfied, and all that they have got 
to shun is civil law. The members of every degree in heathenism seek refuge 
in infidelity. 

M. — What are the different degrees in heathenism? 

C. H. — There is the murderer, robber, drunkard, profaner — if you 
use your own judgment you can divide iniquity without asking such 
a question; but you never see a person do one of those crimes except 
they have practiced the lower ones, and infidelity shields the last one 
of them and tells man, woman, or child that there is nothing to fear 
in doing any of them. Yet you say that Mr. J. was right in passing judg- 
ment that the one that set that fire was a heathen and ought to have been 
burned for setting it. I admit that he is a heathen, but as all children of 
the devil are heathens, he is but a few degrees higher than j^ourself ; and you 
teach the lower ones and then say burn the higher ones. 

M. — Is not there as many degrees in Christianity as there are in 
heathenism? 

C. H. — No. Look at the chart that is in the first part of my book — the 
great gulf that lies between heaven and hell — and you will see that ‘ ‘broad 
is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat; 
and narrow is the way which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.” 
This straight and narrow path is like walking on a log, it is easy to slip off 
from ; and after you have swayed back and forth across the great gulf of life 
for a period of time it is hard to again climb onto the log — “straight and 
narrow path.” 

Study that chart and you will see that all that a person has to do to 
walk in that straight and narrow way, is to do right, talk right, and teach 
right. If it be a Mohammedan that do this, that Mohammedan is on the 
“straight and narrow way and shall go therein.” If it be an Israelite, a 
Catholic, a Baptist, a Christian, or a member of any other church that do 
right, that talk right, that teach right, that church member is walking in the 
“straight and narrow way and shall go therein.” The Christian church 
member, the Baptist, the Methodist, the Catholic, the Israelite or the Moham- 
medan, or any other person that cares not to do right, to talk right and to 
teach right, is constantly swaying back and forth from deed to deed across 


470 


HOW ARE WE LED? 


the great gulf, and they are on the “broad way to destruction,” and they are 
very liable to never gain the straight and narrow path. Such people’s feet 
are very slippery and the log that they tread upon is very smooth. If they 
gain the right way they are liable to slip off again. 

M. — But look at the difference in the church members. There must 
truly be different degrees in Christianity? 

C. H. — No. All that there is to do is to talk right, do right and teach 
right, to the best of our judgment and ability. Our judgment and ability^ 
will greatly vary, but there is only one wa}^ to talk right, do right and teach 
right. There cannot be but one degree of righteousness 

M. — But look at the difference in the church members. 

C. H. — Their belonging to the church does not make them Christians 
without amending their works and ways. There are actually heathens in the 
churches, and your infidelic teachings teach them that they may do anything 
that they may please. All that they have to fear is the punishment of civil 
law, and to avoid that punishment they join the church to hide their deeds 
under the cloak of religion. They are popular with their preacher and their 
preacher is popular with them, so “the world laughs with them,” but that 
does not make them Christians. 

To do as Jesus did, to talk as Jesus talked, to walk in the doctrine of 
Christ, is Christianity. 

M. — How did Jesus do, and how did He talk? 

C. H. — We do not know what Jesus said or did; our records only sketch 
His words and works, His miracles and parables, and His travels. But what 
little we have of His words and works cause us to believe that all of His words 
and works were words an.d works of morality, cause us to believe that He was 
constantly practicing good morals. It causes us to believe that He was con- 
stantly trying to shun immorality; and when we do and talk as we believe 
that Jessus did, we are Christians. 

M. — But suppose that Jesus did not do and talk as you think He did? 

C. H. — It makes no difference what Jesus said or did, when we say and 
do what Christ teaches us to say and do, we are Christians. 

M. — But who is Christ but Jesus? 

C. H. — Christ is a mind to do good morals, to speak morally, to teach 
good morals continually, whether found in the body of Jesus or in the body 
of you and I. When in the body of Jesus, Christ was a mind to practice and 
teach morality daily ; and to-day you cannot be a Christian unless you have 
Christ dwelling in your own bosom daily and hourly, in your home circle and 
constant labor. To-day you cannot have Christ in you unless you have such 
a mind as Jesus had in Him. It is your mind that makes you a Christian; it 
is not your money ; it is not your popularity in some society. It is the com- 
fort and enjoyment of yourself — and all (both man and beast) that are with 
you daily and hourly — by mild and pleasant — but positive words and works. 

M. — I don’t believe that we can always be mild and pleasant. 

C. H. — You can if you will practice and cultivate such a disposition. 


MILDNESS MAKES EVERYTHING PLEASANT. 


471 


There are but few that say whip a child as much as I do, but I say whip with- 
out anger. I can whip a child and at the same time talk as mild and pleas- 
ant as I am talking now. We often need to whip our horse, but let us whip 
him with mild words. I never whip a horse for balking, for it is the excit- 
able, profane, rough-spoken driver that gets an over-load, or in a bad place, 
and then uses rough language to his horse that learns his horse to balk. A 
driver that always uses mild and pleasant words never makes a horse 
balky. 

We often have to whip a horse, but I never yet knocked a horse down, 
but I have taken my horse out of the harness and attached a rope to its hal- 
ter and to its hind feet so that it could not kick, then I have whipped it until 
it learned that I was its master. But I did not go at it excitably, I coolly 
planned my work, prepared my rope, and got a decent whip and went at it 
coolly ; when my horse would obey my word I would smooth his hair, give 
him corn, and talk kindly to him. When he would refuse to obey me, I would 
whip him, but at the same time talk just as kindly to him. But, because you 
find one horse that needs a rope to his foot and a whip on his back to make 
him know that he must obey you, that does not justify you in serving all 
horses that way. 

I once bought a horse that , when turned loose, it was almost impossible to 
catch it again. I got a chain about three feet long and fastened one end to 
its left front foot and the other end to its left hind foot, and then turned it into 
my pasture. Every time I went into my pasture I took some corn and would 
go to my horse, sometimes on the run, sometimes on the walk, but I always 
caught her and rubbed her, talked pleasant to her and gave her some corn. I 
soon got her so that I could go up to her when the chain was not on her. 
The man that I got her of was surprised to see how she had changed. When 
I put her bridle on, I would place my hand on her nose and shut off her wind 
until she would learn to open her mouth for the bits, and at the same time 
talk mild and pleasant to her. We must make our horse mind without getting 
mad. And when I break a colt I learn it to always start off on the walk and 
begin to trot or lope after it has gone a ways. It is mildness more than kind- 
ness that makes everything pleasant. 

M. — But you are preaching up morality for Christianity. 

C. H. When you are using good moral words and doing good moral 

works, you are doing precisely what we believe that Jesus did; at least you 
are doing precisely what Christ teaches us to do. That must be Christianity 

M. — Is that all that is required to make us Christians? 

C. H. Look at that chart again and look at human life; compare them 

together and see if morality does not follow the “straight and narrow path,” 
though morality may be found in a thousand different persons, it follows that 
one path just the same. Then look at iniquity, even in one person alone, and 
see if it does not spread over a wide space of the “broad way.” It is noth- 
ing but words and works that take us out of the path of righteousness; what 
more is required to bring us back again? 


47? 


HOW ARK WE LED? 


M. — But you could not make M. J. believe that morality was all that 
was required. 

C. H. — I told M. J. of the sermon that was preached at Hammond, 
where the preacher presented the glass of water in representation of the human 
heart. I first asked him these questions: “Were the words of Jesus moral?” 
He answered, “certainly, always.” “Were the works of Jesus works of 
morality?” “Most assuredly.” “Were His teachings, teachings of morality?” 
“Why, yes; certainly/’ “Was Jesus a moral man?” “Why, yes; certainly 
He was.” “Was He anything more than moral?” M. J. studied for a 
moment and then said : ‘ ‘Why, no ; He could not be anything more than 

moral.” Then I asked him, “if we become moral in every respect are we doing 
as Jesus did?” “Why, yes.” Then I told him that the preacher held up 
his glass of pure water, and said, “this glass of water represents the human 
heart in its pureness. Then he pulled a vial out of his pocket and said, “this 
bottle contains iniquity.” He poured a drop from this vial of iniquity into 
the glass of water and said, “that is the first stain that ever entered that 
heart; it was probably the stealing of a cookey.” He again poured in from 
this vial of iniquity, and as the dark stains passed through the water he said, 
“this is the second crime that entered the heart.” And again, and again he 
poured in from the vial of iniquity until the human heart was perfectly black 
with crime. He then took a vial from his pocket which he said was “mo- 
rality,” and he poured in from this vial without any effect; and he continued 
pouring until the last drop of good morals were poured out of the little viai 
of morality, without cleansing this human heart in the least. Then lie said 
that “morality will not cleanse the sin-stained heart.” Then he pulled a 
third vial out of his pocket which he said was “Christianity.” He began to 
pour from this vial into the glass of water, and the darkness began to settle 
down, and the preacher said that “Christianity is the only thing that will 
cleanse the sin-stained heart.” M. J. said, “I have heard that very sermon, 
and I believe it, and so do you.” “Well,” I asked, “what is Christianity?” 
At this he choked and hawked for a moment, and then gave me the faith 
doctrine of his church. As I had gone through with this same conversation 
with members of other churches, and had received practically the same 
answers, I learned that Christianity in one church differed quite a good deal 
from that in another church; and if I went into one church, nothing but the 
Christianity (faith doctrine of that dhurch) would cleanse my heart and pre- 
pare it for heaven. If I went into another church, nothing but the Christianity 
(faith doctrine of that church) would clease my heart. Now, which church 
has the kind of Christianity that was in this little vial that was superior to the 
little vial of morality? Is it the church that allows its members to swear, 
and lie, and indulge in all manner of every-day sins and shortcomings? 

But I further asked M. J. “was Jesus perfect in His works and words?” 
“Oh, yes.” “Was He more than perfect in His works and words?” “No. 
He could not be anything more than perfect. ” “Did Jesus go to heaven?” 
“Certainly He did.” “Have I and you got to excel Jesus if we gain heaven?” 


JESUS WAS A MORALIST. 


473 


“Why, to; we have not got to do as well as He did, we’ve only got to do the 
best we can. ” “Then how is it? Jesus was a moralist, constantly practic- 
ing good morals in both word and works; always shunning immorality. This 
little vial of morality contains everything that Jesus practiced in both word 
and works ; contains no immorality that Jesus shunned. When we pour in all 
the morality we please, we pour in all of the good morals that Jesus practiced. 
Now I take this little vial and I pour every drop of morality into my heart 
that was in Jesus’ heart, yet it does not cleans my heart in the least. Have 
I got to excel Jesus in order to cleanse my heart? ” 

M. J. did not answer this question, and it remains unanswered. 

As the word Christianity was not in use in Jesus’ day, the questions are, 
after we have poured every drop of his morality into the human heart, what 
more can we do? Must we pour more into the human heart to cleanse it 
than Jesus’ heart could contain? When we have poured the last drop of 
morality from the little vial that Jesus had, is it of no effect? 

Let us pour morality into the human heart from its very birth, regard- 
less of this saying of Christianity. 

M. — Then you think that morality will take us to heaven? 

C. H. — Yes, I do. I was talking with Mr. W. a short time ago, and he 
told me of his son that lately died in the West. As I have been acquainted 
with Mr. W. for thirty -five years, and as I never heard him speak a favorable 
word for a church, I was surprised to hear him say that his son stood so high 
in the church, and then spoke so well of the moral practice that his son fol- 
lowed. And at another time I heard him speaking of his wife’s relatives in 
Michigan, and said that they were very nice Christian people. 

I asked him if he was not a disbeliever of Christianity? As I had 
known him for more than thirty years, and had always known him to talk 
differently. He said that he believed in true Christianity, he did not believe 
in hypocrisy. Then I asked, “then you think there is a hereafter? 7 ’ “I be- 
lieve that if we try to live and do what I would call Christianity, we would 
take a great deal more pleasure here in this life.” As I had always known 
him to be a practicer of good morals I said, “you mean a moralist?” “I mean 
a person that belongs to a church, if they also practice good morals in every- 
day life, and pleasant spoken and sociable with anybody, I believe in such 
Christianity. Such a person always enjoys themselves, and always has 
friends. Everybody likes such a person; such Christianity does a person 
some good here on this earth.” Mr. W. says that he believes in true Chris- 
tianity doing some good on this earth. 

M. — I believe that myself. 

C. H. That is true Christianity; that is what Christ teaches us; that is 

what the Bible tells us that Jesus taught. 

M. That is what Jesus taught, only He taught that it would be a ben- 

efit in the next world. 

C. H. Now you believe just as W. does. You believe this to be the true 

teachings of Christ; you believe this to be true Christianity; you believe this 


474 


SOW ARE WE LED? 


to be a benefit to us here in this life; yet, because Jesus taught us that it 
would also be a benefit in the world to come — because our churches teach us 
that it also will be a benefit to us in the next world, you go right against it, 
and teach the young folks to be perfect heathens, and tell them that Chris- 
tianity is all a bosh. 

Why not teach the world to become Christians, and let them take the 
comforts and pleasures of a Christian life here in this world, and let them 
take their chances for the next world? 

M. — If the churches would teach such Christianity as you teach, I would 
join a church. 

C. H. — If there is so much hypocrisy in the churches that you can’t join 
them, why not take a hand right where you are? Why not teach the young 
that if they would possess true Christianity, they should be rewarded here in 
this present life? 

M. — That would be doing just as Jesus did: Jesus left the Jewish church 
on account of hypocrisy, and taught his own doctrine. 

But changing the subject, I would like to ask: “When did Julius Caesar 
die?” 

C. H. — I have not seen, but have heard that some author has written 
that Julius Caesar died about twenty-five years before the change of time 
called Anno Domina. 

All that I shall say to this, is, that there was a period of time in Egypt, 
that when a man took the ruling seat, they called him Pharaoh; we would 
call him a king. They had one Pharaoh after another for that period of time. 
Also a period of time in Rome, that their ruler was called Caesar; and they 
had one Caesar after another during that period. It may be that they had 
one author of some noted work by the name of Julius Caesar, who died 
twenty or thirty years B. C. and at the same time had a Caesar that reigned 
over him. At least, if he died twenty-five years B. C., they had two or more 
Caesars after his death, and before the crucifixion of Jesus. Luke 2:1 tells 
us “that there went out a decree from Augustus Caesar,” in the year six, 
B. C. And the third chapter tells us that ‘ ‘in the fifteenth year of the reign 
of Tiberius Caesar it came to pass that Jesus also being baptized.” This was 
in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, and in the year twenty- 
six, A. D. , so this Caesar must have begun his reign in the year eleven, A. D. , 
whilst seventeen years before was the reign of Augustus Caesar (or Caesar 
Augustus — King Augustus). And Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary tells us 
(under the word style) that between the reign of those two Caesar’s, another 
reigned by the name of Julius Caesar, and at the close of B. C. he decreed 
that A. D. should begin. 

If they are right about Julius Caesar dying twenty-five years B. C. 
there must have been another Julius Caesar (or Caesar Julius — King Julius) 
that reigued twenty-five years after his death. 

We sometimes see in print, “King Pharaoh” or “King Caesar.” But 
that is as improper as it would be to say “President Presidency.” 


THE ClllLDKEJN' OF THE POOE. 


475 


‘•King Julius,” or “Caesar Julius,” is proper and right. Also “King 
Augustus,” or “Caesar Agustus.” “King Tiberius” or “Caesar Tiberius,” is 
correct and proper. 

The name “Pharaoh” appears in the Bible more than a hundred times; 
twice I find it thus, “Pharaoh, king of Egypt.” In this they merely inter- 
pret the word Pharaoh, as we would interpret the word “Queen” (Soverign 
of England). Then I interpret another word that we find quite a number of 
times in the Bible, it is “Sihon of a nation,” “king of a nation,” that the 
Israelites came in contact with in the wilderness. “Sihon” was not the man’s 
name, but the crowned name of their ruler. 


CHAPTER VIII. 

Talmage’s sermon. The young man’s questions. 

Again I pick up a newspaper dated November 10, 1898. In it I find 
another of Tal mage’s sermons of which I must make some remarks. I believe 
Rev. Talmage to be a good meaning man and trying to do good to the world. 
Yet he is not perfect, for no living soul is perfect, and it is impossible for an 
imperfect person to pass through this life without err, and the way to improve 
those errs is to notice them and point them out. He can see errs in mj T work 
and point them out: I can see errs in his work and point them out. It is a 
duty of every person to point out the errs of which they read. 

Moses, and all writers and teachers since Moses’ time have placed man 
ahead of woman, and have taught man that after their character is formed, 
and their nature grown, they must amend their character and change their 
own nature in order to gain heaven. 

Partially this is right. I admit a part of this to be true: Yet, I stand 
alone, in teaching the women that they stand far ahead of man: I stand alone 
in teaching the women that they must amend their character ahead of the 
amendment of the character of man: they must amend their nature ahead of 
the amendment of the nature of man: and atop of that they must give in- 
heritance — they must train, cultivate and grow the character and the nature 
of their off-spring — whilst in infancy — in a way that is pleasing to God. I 
stand alone in teaching the women that the woman that does this adds a 
hundred fold more to her reward in heaven, than the man that has tried to 
amend his character and change his nature after it has fully got its growth. 
And I stand alone in teaching the mother that she cannot raise her child in 
the right way, if she thinks more of her child’s dear little flesh and carnal 
desires, than she thinks of its dear little mind. Teach it self-denial from its 
birth: teach it quick obedience from its infancy, and teach it the love of 
morality in every respect. 


476 


HOW ARE WE LED? 


Rev. Talmage teaches the man, not the woman; and says: “I have no 
authority for saying how many times a man may sin and be forgiven, or how 
many times he may fall and yet rise again; but I have authority for saying 
that he may fall four hundred and ninety times, and four hundred and ninety 
times get up ... . Rut that husband and father forms an unfortunate acquaint- 
ance who leads him in circles too convivial, too late-houred, too scandalous. 
After awhile, his money gone and not able to bear his part of the expense, 
he is gradually shoved out and ignored and pushed away. Now, what a di- 
lapidated home is his!.... If any man was ever down, that husband and 
father is down. The fact is, he got into a wrestle with Evil that pushed and 
pulled and contorted and exhausted him worse than any Olympian game ever 
treated a Grecian, and he was thrown. Thrown out of prosperity into gloom. 
Thrown out of good associations into bad. Thrown out of health into 
invalidism. Thrown out of happiness into misery. But one day, while slink- 
ing through one of the back streets, not wishing to be recognized, a good 
thought crosses his mind, for he has heard of men flung flat rising again 
Arriving at his house, he calls his wife in and shuts the door and says : ‘ ‘Mary, 
I am going to do differently. . . .To-day let us begin anew.” Sympathizing 
friends come around and kind business people help the man to something 
to do, so that he can again earn a living. The children soon have clothing so 
that they can go to school. The old songs that the wife sang years ago come 
back to her memory, and she sings them over again at the cradle, or while 
preparing the noon-day meal. Domestic resurrection ! He comes home earlier 
than he used to, and he is glad to spend the evening playing games with the 
children or helping them with arithmetic or grammar lessons which are a little 
too hard. Time passes on, and some outsider suggests to him that he is not 
getting as much out of life as he ought, and proposes an occasional visit to 
scenes of worldliness and dissipation. He consents to go once, and, after 
much solicitation, twice. Then his old habit comes back. He says he has 
been belated, and could not get back until midnight. He had to see some 
W estern merchant that had arrived and talk of business with him before he 
got out of town. Kindness and geniality again quit the disposition of that 
husband and father. The wife’s heart breaks in a new place. That man goes 
into a second wrestle with evil habit and is flung, and all hell cackles at the 
moral defeat. “I told you so!” say many people who have no faith in the 
reformation of a fallen man. ‘I told you so! You made a great fuss about 
his restored home, but I knew it would not last. You can’t trust these fellows 
who have once gone wrong. ’ So with this unfortunate, things get worse and 
worse, and his family have to give up the house, and the last valuable goes 
to the pawnbroker’s shop. But that unfortunate man is sauntering along the 
street again.” 

We see that Rev. Talmage wholly addresses man. Not once does he 
address woman. Nor does he say that woman falls, and should strive to arise 
again. Not once in his sermon does he say “man, woman and child.” But 
he places man at the head, and teaches man, and leaves woman to say that 


TALMAGE T S SERMON. 


477 


’‘the preacher said that you should amend your ways, he did not say me.” I 
presume that the preacher’s mother was a woman, and he cannot bear to say 
naught against a woman. Woman should be taught ahead of man. 

Again Brother Talmage does not point out one identical thing that man 
should do to become a Christian. He does not point out one identical thing 
that man should omit doing to become a Christian, except swearing. I 
suppose that he wants to be popular. I suppose that he wants the whole world 
to laugh with him. My son said to me that “I should not point out the faults 
of the human being: If I show the people their faults they will all be mad — 
they will all be down on me. I should tell them something that they could 
laugh at: I should laugh and the world would laugh with me.” I say that there 
never was a large sin committed by any human being, except that person had 
previously committed little sins : I say keep the little sins out of the little 
people, then the big people will never commit big sins — keep the roots grubbed 
out whilst they are young and tender, and the tops can never grow. 

Let us go over Rev. Talmage’s sermon again and see what he says about 
educated preachers, and uneducated preachers. 

Paul used the word “wrestling” as a parable. That is, he called the peo- 
ple’s attention to the boys “wrestling” to get one another down, to see which 
one should domineer: He compared that to the good spirit and the evil spirit 
wrestling in the human body to see which should domineer there. Talmage 
calls our attention to Paul’s parable, and uses the same word as a parable in 
his sermon. Let us see what he says. 

‘ ‘My friends, if we do not want ourselves, to be thrown in this wrestle 
with the sin and error of the world, we had better get ready by Christian 
discipline .... Preparation for this wrestling is absolutely necessary .... Do 
not begrudge the time and the money for that young man who is in prepara- 
tion for the ministry, spending two years in grammar school, and four years 
in college and three years in theological seminary. I know that nine years 
are a big slice to take off of a man’s active life, but if you realized the height 
and strength of the archangels of evil in our time with which that young man 
is going to wrestle, you would not think nine years of preparation were too 

much A man who wrote me the other day a letter asking advice, as he 

felt called to preach the Gospel, began the word “God” with a small “g. ’ 
That kind of a man is not called to preach the Gospel. Illiterate men, preach- 
ing the Gospel, quote for their own encouragement the scriptural passage, 
“Open thy mouth wide and I fill it.” Yes! He will fill it with wind,” ‘ ; With 
wind” 

This man is a preacher, teaching the world that they must believe the 
words of Jesus Christ and His apostles. But Jesus has said something that 
does not just suit him, and how does he treat it? He quotes, or pretends to 
quote, some of Jesus’ words, and then remarks, “ He will fill it with wind .” 

Jesus was an illiterate man, yet He was a man of high cognation be- 
cause He exercised His own judgment, and followed after the mind of God. 

Christ said, when He was talking through the lips of Jesus, “ Take no 


478 


HOW AEE WE LED? 


thought how or what ye shall speak, for it shall be given you in that same 
hour what ye shall speak/’ — Mat. 10:19; Mark 13:11. “Neither do ye pre- 
meditate, but whatsoever shall be given you in that hour, that speak you; for 
it is not ye that speak, but the Holy Ghost.” Luke 12:11, 12, tells us the 
same. Talmage says, open your mouth and the Holy Ghost will fill it with 
wind. 

Jesus was talking to illiterate men. His apostles were illiterate men, 
were laboring men, chosen from the working class. Paul was a literate man, 
but he came among the apostles after Jesus had made his choice. Brother 
Talmage goes back on the words of Jesus, and says the illiterate preacher 
opens his mouth and Jesus “fills it with wind.” It is the literate man’s 
mouth that is filled with wind, that makes the great blow. It is the literate 
man that does the great blowing for popularity. It is the illiterate man that 
speaks the true sentiments of a Christian mind. Thank God that Jesus was 
our example setter; thank God that Christ is our leader. Brother Talmage 
says, “A man wrote me . . . . a letter asking advice, as he felt called to preach 
the gospel, began the word ‘God’ with a small ‘g. ’ That kind of a man is 
not called to preach the gospel.” I say that God is not popularity. He 
cares not how we spell His name, just so that the word gives the true mean- 
ing. Christ is not popularity, Christ is love, peace and unity in the home 
circle and in every-day labor. It is like some of my former work where I 
said that Jesus was a bachelor, and my printer changed it and said He was 
an unmarried man. As I was writing about matrimony the word bachelor 
gave my meaning, and had I been writing about college graduates I could 
have called Him a bachelor there and have spoken the truth. 

Christ (right) does not care whether I say ‘ ‘ bachelor” or my printer says 
“an unmarried man.” God (right) does not care whether I say “bachelor” 
or my printer says “an unmarried man.” It all means one thing, and if my 
words express my meaning clearly, and if my meaning is right, that is all 
that is required. Christ or God requires nothing of a person that such per- 
son does not know how to do. Neither did Ohrist require writings of His 
apostles beyond their natural ability. 

We, the “illiterate,” are not at work for money, but for (Christ) love, 
morality, peace and unity in the home circle and in every-day labor. 

The preacher whose mouth is filled with wind preaches for money, and 
teaches the world that in order to gain heaven we have got to become a sin- 
ner, and after we have cultivated and grown our nature in sin we have got to 
repent and wash those sins from our mind, and so become a Christian, and 
pay the preacher a great salary for the wind that he blows. 

I teach the world that such Christians have built their house upon sand, 
and when the flood of temptation comes such a house is easily washed away. 
But, when the child — that is raised to perfect obedience and in true morality 
from his or her birth — becomes a Christian, it has built its house upon a rock, 
and when the floods of temptation come and go they affect it not; and blessed 
is the mother that has placed that rock there. 


BE MILD, PLEASANT AND POSITIVE. 


479 


Again brother Talmage says to the illiterate person. 

“ Your going around with a Bagster’s Bible with flaps at the edges under 
your arm does not qualify you for the work of an evangelist. In this day of 
profuse gab, remember that it is not merely capacity to talk, but the fact 

that you have something to say, that is going to fit you for the struggle 

into which you are to go with a smile on your face and illumination on your 
brow.” 

You must go with a smile on your face and have something to say that 
will cause “the world to laugh with you. ” Any person that practices mild- 
ness and pleasantness at all times, though they may be whipping a dog, let 
their words be mild and pleasant, though they may be whipping a horse, let 

their words be mild and pleasant, though they may be whipping a child, let 

their words always be mild and pleasant but always positive. Any person 
who can do his work with positiveness, and at the same time with mildness 
and pleasantness, can always have something to say with a smile on his face 
that will fit him for the struggle into which he is to go, whether literate or 
illiterate. Add to this a practice of always trying to do right as far as judg- 
ment and ability will permit, giving home and members of the home circle 
the preference. Then you are a Christian, and prepared to teach the young. 
But if you want to be most popular, be one of the literate. Again Rev. Tal- 
mage strikes the Bible and says : 

“ The translators of the Bible made an unintentional mistake when they 
represented Paul as insulting the people of Athens by speaking of the ‘ un- 
known God whom ye ignorantly worship. ’ Instead of charging them with 
ignorance, the original indicates he complimented them by suggesting that 
they were very religious; but as they confessed that there were some things 
they did not understand about God, he proposed to say some things concern- 
ing Him, beginning where they had left off.” 

Rev. Talmage tells us that the Bible is not right. He tells us that it is 
not in its origination, that the translators have made an error that has degen- 
erated it. Those translators were great literate men, but they were human 
beings, possessed of human frailty, and he thinks that he can see an error in 
their work. The fact is there are none of us perfect ; we all err, the ancients 
as well as ourselves, and if brother Talmage was to go through the Bible for 
the purpose that I have gone through it, he would tell you, as I have said, 
that there is scripture in the Bible, and there are many passages in it that are 
not scripture. He would undoubtedly say that good righteous teachings 
were scripture, whether found in the Bible or out of it — were inspirations 
from God, not from the devil. He would also tell you that many passages in 
the Bible were not scripture, but the inspiration of the devil. 

Now, to change the subject of this chapter, I will give a little conversa- 
tion that passed between me and a young man who was boarding at the same 
house where I was boarding. His name is D. 

D. — Say, you are a good deal older than I am, I would like to ask you 
some questions. 


480 


HOW A HE WE LED? 


C. H. — All right, go ahead. My answers may not be good for anything, 
but you must use your own judgment after I have answered you. 

D. — Sure! But if you were to marry again would you go before a jus- 
tice of the peace or before a preacher? 

C. H. — If I was rich, and my money coming free and easy, I 
might be married by a preacher. But if I was a poor boy, working for my 
money, I would go before a justice of the peace. 

D. — Why so? Is not the boy that works as good as the rich? 

C. H. — Certainly he is as good if he behaves as well and talks as well. 

D. — Then why should a poor boy go before a justice of the peace? 

C. H. — There are so many answers to this question I cannot give all. 
But, first, the rich are all married by a preacher just for the popular name. 
And I do not like to see a person so popular that they cannot see a poor 
person. Second, a justice is generally a poor man — a man who works for 
his money — a man who believes in taking what he earns and giving the rest 
to its rightful owner. If you are married by a justice of the peace and hand 
him a 5 or 10 dollar bill, he will take out enough to pay him for his trouble 
in marrying, filling out the papers and returning them to the county seat, then 
he returns the rest of the money to you. A justice thinks that he has got 
to live, and you have got to live also. 

If you are married by a preacher, and you hand him a 5, 10 or 20 dol- 
lar bill, he thinks that a dollar or two goes to him for his trouble, and the 
rest you have given to the Lord; and as he is the Lord’s servant it is his place 
to take care of the Lord’s money; therefore it all goes down in his pocket. 
A preacher thinks that he has got to live, but the laboring man has some sort 
of a facility of earning their living as they go along. A preacher feels that 
he may come to your house, and that he is a free commoner to your bed and 
board as much so as your own son is, but on the other hand you must pay 
the last cent due to him. In fact the literate preacher seems to think that 
all money belongs to the Lord, and he cannot be a true servant of the Lord 
except he takes care of that money himself. 

If I were to find a preacher that seemed to realize that he had to 
live, and others had to live also — if his face is not popularity alone — if 
he teaches the world to do right at home and in every day labor, to talk right 
in the home circle as well as elsewhere, I would consider that preacher filled 
with the mind of Christ, and I would be married by him, for I believe in 
supporting such a preacher. 

D. — I’ve another question to ask you. Should a young man marry a 
girl older than himself, or should she be younger than himself; or should she 
be about his age? and if she should be younger, how much younger? 

C. H. — The age makes no difference, its the disposition that you should 
choose for. 

D. — But how can you tell their disposition? They are all alike when 
you see them out in company. 


THE SORT OF GIRL TO MARRY. 


481 


0. H. — That is right. You may have a girl out in company all that 
you please; let her be at work, away from home where I will never see her, 
but let me be with her parents as much as you are with her, and I can tell 
her disposition better than you can. If you want to pick a girl to get one of 
a good disposition, get acquainted with her mother and form your judgment, 
there make your choice. 

D. — How can you tell that way? 

C. H. — If the mother is quick tempered the girl is very apt to be quick 
tempered also ; if the mother is a fretful fault-finder, the girl will be very apt 
to be a fretful fault-finder also; if the mother is gifted to calumny the girl 
will be apt to be gifted to calumny also, and then if the mother permits the 
girl to do just as she pleases at home, all of those gifts will naturally expand. 
Whilst on the other hand, if the mother is of a mild, placid disposition, the 
girl will be very apt to inherit that disposition ; if the girl is quick and ready 
to obey her parents, you may rest assured that the girl has had good training ; 
and when you ask that girl to go any where with you, if she says I will go 
and ask ma or pa, then you have found the girl that you want for a wife, 
regardless of her age. 

D. — Not much: I want a girl that knows what she wants to do with- 
out asking pa or ma. 

C. H. — There’s where you make your mistake. There is where all boys 
make their mistake. 

D. — I want a girl that knows enough to help me make a little money. 

C. H. — There’s where you make your mistake again; this is the girl that 
will help you make your money. And beside that she will mak? your home 
a little “heaven below,” and that is worth more to you than money. 

D. — Ah, this heaven and hell I don’t believe in- 

C. H. — You marry such a girl as this, and treat her as a man ought to 
treat his wife, and you will find that you are living in a “heaven below,” 
and if a person ever passes into heaven in the great eternity, that heaven has 
to be sprouted here below. After you have lived with this wife five years, 
let her be taken from you, then you marry a girl like we first talked about — 
one who knows enough to go where she pleases without asking pa or ma, let 
her make your little home a perfect “hell upon earth,” and after you have 
tried that for a time you will begin to believe in heaven and hell, for a person 
that lives in perfect hell upon this earth must dwell in hell through all 
eternity. 

D But how will this woman help me to save my money? 

C. H. This woman by nature has a mild and pleasant disposition; she 

has been trained that if she wants anything she must ask pa or ma, if she is 
denied, her disposition is such that she will try to be happy without it. 
When she gets married, if she wants anything, it will be her disposition to 
ask her husband about it. If her husband wants his money to pay some 
debt or to buy something with, he will say, I can’t let you have it now, and 
she will try and make herself happy without it, and let home go on a little 
heaven below. 


m 


HOW ARE WE LED? 


A man that has such a wife as this can put his money in his wife’s hands 
and feel that it is in a bank of safety. Whilst on the other hand, if you 
marry a girl that knows enough to go where she pleases without asking pa or 
ma, when she gets married she knows enough to go where she pleases, with- 
out asking her husband, stay as long as she pleases without asking her hus- 
band, come back when she pleases without asking her husband; and when 
you put your money into her hands for safe keeping, she knows enough to go 
and spend it for what she pleases without asking her husband. 

D. — But I will not put my money in her hands, I will put it in the bank. 

C. H. — But you said that you wanted a woman that would help you 
make money, is this her? An d you have put your money in the bank to save 
it, and when she wants some you have not got it, then what? then hell is to 
pay and how shall it be paid? No money to pay it: hell won’t take truck and 
trade: how shall it be paid? The only way to pay it is to start hellfire to 
rolling, and the longer it roll 3 the hotter it gets. She feeds you on hellfire 
until you leave the house to go to your work : and when you come back hell- 
fire is ready to kindle again, and it takes only one match to start it. Where is 
the pleasure in coming to such a home to spfend your idle hours? Which girl 
do you want, the one that asks pa or ma if she can go riding with you, or the 
one that knows enough to go where she pleases without asking? 

D. — Why, I think that children ought to mind their parents. 

3. H. — But you said tl at you wanted the girl that knew enough to go 
wnere she pleased without asking her parents. 

D. — I did not realize how that was. 

C. H. — The girl that we raised does not think of speaking to me of when 
or where she wants to go any more than she would if I were a perfect 
stranger, just come in to *Sta y all night. She seems to think that a man has 
nothing to say about a house. When she gets married she will probably 
think that her husband will have a perfect snap ; all that he will have to do 
will be to furnish the money and bring it into the house, she can do the rest. 

D. — But I would ha~e things go as I said; when I have a house I will 
rule it. 

C. H. — If you get the girl that is raised by a placid mother, if she is 
trained to obedience and good morals, you can rule your house, and all in 
love. If you get the girl that is raised by the rude mother — if you get the 
girl that knows enough to go when she pleases without asking her parents, 
when you step into the house and begin to rule it as you think it ought to go, 
then hellfire will begin to roll: And you will be the one that will start it. Then 
the preachers can preach to man , man will be the one that will start hellfire 
to rolling and the preachers can preach to man instead of woman Don’t 
you think that it would be better to teach the mothers to raise their children 
in placidness to all things, and in obedience to parents and teachers, and in 
practice of good morals in both words and works? and so become Christians? 

D. — If there is any such a thing as Christianity, I believe that is 
Christianity. 


CHAPTER IX. 


Rev. J — Information as to what constitutes a Christian. First: Morality. Second: 
The keeping- of the Sabbath day. Third: Spread the Gospel among- the 
heathens. Pull the beam out of thine own eye, clean the heathens out of 
thine own nation. Fourth: To confess Jesus Christ to be the Son of God. 
Fifth: Immersion. Sixth: Taking- Sacrament. 

I met an old preacher whom I will call Rev. J. , and I related to him 
the sermon of the glass of water representing the human heart, that the vial 
of morality would not cleanse but the vial of Christianity was the only thing 
that would prepare it for heaven. Rev. J. seemed to affirm the statement and 
said that in addition to morality, second, I must keep the Sabbath day. 
This I admit, the keeping of the Sabbath day is one of the twenty-eight com- 
mandments found in the Old Testament; and we cannot be a true moralist 
except we keep those twenty eight commandments. Third, I must help to 
spread the Grospel abroad, among the heathens. To this I believe that Jesus 
said, 1 ‘cast out first the beam out of thine own eye, and then shalt thou see 
clearly to pull out the mote that is in thy brother’s eye.” Jesus gave us this 
as a parable, and the way for us to derive any benefit from this parable is to 
cast the beam out of our own eye by first getting the heathen out of our own 
country: and the only way to successfully do this is to teach our mothers to 
grow up their children out of heathenism — to grow their children’s nature up 
without being mingled in heathenism. After we have learned to raise our 
children in the right way — after we have cleaned heathenism out of our own 
country — after we have pulled the beam out of our own eye, then our nation 
can see clearly to go into our brother — heathen nation and cast the mote out 
of their eye. Rut we will not do it by teaching them that they can indulge in 
their every-day sins and shortcomings, and gain heaven through faith in 
Jesus; but teach them that they must pluck the mote out of their eye 
through faith in Christ that must dwell in their own bosom. 

A Christian friend made me a visit who had, two small children just 
beginning to talk. I noticed that those children did not obey their parent’s 
word very well. They were good Christian parents, mild and pleasant, but 
not positive. The father told me that they had for some weeks been visit- 
ing relatives who would have something to say whenever they tried to make 
their children mind: and that we could not expect children to mind their 
parents when b3 T standers had something to say. 

After those people had gone home from visiting, and had been at home 
for a few weeks, my folks had an occasion to make them a visit: And to my 
surprise I learned that at home those children (less than three years old), did 
not mind their parents, and when their father would try to make them mind, 
they would slap him, or spit in his face. 


484 


HOW ARE WE LED? 


Those children will be raised by what we call good Christian parents, 
mild and pleasant, but they are not “suffering their little children to come 
unto Christ. ” Through tenderness of their dear little flesh they are spoiling 
their dear little mind: and the mind is all that makes them children. 

Before those children are three years old, I prophesy that though being 
raised by Christian parents, when they are grown up they will be children of 
the devii: they are not brought unto Christ — they will not be children of 
God, but they will belong to the class of heathens. 

The third thing that Bev. J. said that I must do to become a child of 
God, was to confess Jesus Christ to be the Son of God. To this 1 say, there 
is no person living that has greater faith in Christ than I have: but, what is 
Christ? Christ was the mind of God that dwelt in the body of Jesus — Christ 
is the mind of the very saihe God, that dwells in me — Christ is the mind of 
the very same God, that dwells in your own body, if you are a true Christian 
— Christ is the mind of the very same God, that dwells in the body of every 
true Christian, and there is not a living soul that will not confess that Christ 
is the true and living Son of God, if they can only see Him in the right light. 

The fourth thing that Rev. J. said that I must do to become a Christian, 
is to be immersed. This we will examine. Is it a case of necessity that we 
be immersed in order that we can do right? I ask, is it necessary that we be 
baptized in order that we can do right and talk right? We will examine its 
history, and we will go clear back to the very finest roots of its earliest 
infancy. We will go back to the days of Abel to find the finest roots of im- 
mersion or bathing in water for a cleansing purpose. 

Let me say here, that when an army of soldiers are collected together, 
there are always some who will not wash themselves, or their clothes, to try to 
keep themselves clean. This is surely wrong, it is not right and we must 
surely expect to find this wrong more freely practiced among uncultivated 
people, than in a civilized and cultivated nation. 

We will go clear back beyond all civilization — beyond all cultivation, to 
search for the finest roots of immersion. We will go clear back to the days 
of Abel; and as we go way back beyond the first written or printed records, 
we must use supposition. 

There was never yet a thing grown, good, bad, right or wrong, except it 
first put forth its finest roots and fibres: and as we cannot reach the finest 
roots and fibres of immersion, except we go back beyond all print or writing, 
and use supposition . So we will use supposition until we reach the days of 
Abraham, and we will even find it necessary to use supposition still this side 
of Abraham. 

I claim this writing to be a direct inspiration to me from God, not handed 
to me through the agency of some other writer, yet I ask you that you do not 
believe it just because I have written it, but read slowly, stop often, think 
seriously, and if you find it to be right and just, believe it to be an inspira- 
tion from God; but if you find it to be wrong and unjust believe it to be an 
inspiration from the devil; for all things must come from one great power or 
the other. 


WHAT RIGHTEOUSNESS IS. 


485 


Next I shall say that in early days all words or works that were right 
were called righteous, and all words and works that were wrong were 
called unrighteous ; therefore, when it was right to wash even a little finger 
it was a righteous act, and when it was wrong to eat an apple that they had 
no right to eat, that act was called an unrighteous act. We must remember 
that righteousness and unrighteousness were very small in the beginning, but 
now have grown to be very, very large ; and we must remember that our mother 
and our father, Eve and Adam, stepped out of righteousness and stepped 
into unrighteousness in a very small form of disobedience, which has grown 
to become a very large thing. They did not step into the great monster of 
disobedience, but they stepped into its very smallest roots, which has grown 
from that day to this, and to get back into righteousness we have got to find 
and start at its very smallest roots and constantly watch ourselves that we 
grow up aright. 

Now we will go back to the days of Abel to find the smallest roots of 
baptism, and we will suppose that Abel saw that it was a nasty, filthy act to 
eat with dirty hands. This idea sprang up in Abel's mind, and if it was a right 
thought it was an inspiration from God, and when Abel ate with dirty hands 
it made a dirty streak in his mind that he did not feel just right. When he 
washed his hands and made his hands clean he made his mind clean, and 
then he could eat his dinner with better feelings. This was a righteous act, 
though it was a very small step out of heathenism. At that time it was 
enough to call Abel a righteous man, and it raised him toward the great 
righteous light. 

Cain saw no use of washing and cleaning his hands, neither for washing 
and cleaning his mind ; therefore, he sank farther and farther into the great 
darkness of iniquity. He passed through life with both hands and mind 
dirty, and before his death his mind became very black with the stains of 
evil and crime, even murder. 

We come on down to the days of Noah, and we find that that righteous 
act had grown, and Noah found it right to wash both hands and face, and if 
he ate his dinner without washing both hands and face he felt a dirty spot in 
his mind ; but when he had washed both hands and face he had washed his 
mind also, and he could eat his dinner with a clean mind. Noah was a more 
righteous man, taking one more step out of the darkness of heathenism 
and one step closer toward the great righteous light. 

We come on down to the days of Abraham, and we find him passing 
farther and farther from the great darkness of the mortal mind and advanc- 
ing closer and closer to the great righteous light, washing both hands, face 
and feet, and more thoroughly washing the mind. We find records of his 
washing the spiritual feet. Gen. 18:4. 

We pass on down to the days of Moses, and we find him far in advance 
of all others toward the great righteous light, and we find him washing and 
cleansing the whole body, and washing and cleansing it for the express pur- 
pose of washing and cleansing the whole mind; and not only once, but every 


486 


KOW ARE WE RET)? 


time that their minds became foul and dirty, they must wash their whole 
body, “or their sins should be upon them.” 

We remember that Josephus in his writings said: “Moses wrote some 
of his writings in parable, some in rhyme, and others of the true word of 
God.” Now we are using the writings of Moses in regard to washing the 
mortal body as a parable to washing the whole mind. We can write in par- 
able, in rhyme and of the true word of God the same to-day as they could in 
the days of Moses or in the days of the apostles. 

As we have now looked back at the washing of the hands, the face, the 
feet and the whole body of the mortal being, and compared it to the washing 
of the hands, the face, the feet and the whole body of the (mind) spiritual 
being, there is not a person on earth, using good judgment, but what must 
say that every step in this mortal washing sprang from a clean spot in the 
mind; the mind that brought forth each step of this mortal washing was 
right, therefore it was a righteous person trying to improve the world. 

When we read of Abraham washing the spiritual feet, and then turn 
and read where Jesus was washing the feet of his apostles, we must think that 
Jesus was teaching them in parable. When Jesus told Peter that “he that 
is washed needeth not save wash his feet,” He virtually told them that if their 
mind was washed and made clean, as long as they washed and kept the outer 
branches of the mind clean, the main body of the mind could not get dirty. 
There can no dirt get into the mind except the dirt is first found in the roots 
and outer branches of that mind. 

Jesus told Peter that if he had been washed and made clean, it was 
then his duty to keep himself clean. Tbe same with the mind. The mind 
cannot be washed and made clean with water, but with the mind of Christ; 
and after it has been washed and made clean with the pureness of the mind 
of Christ, constantly keep it clean with the very same purity of the mind of 
the very same Christ. 

Moses made a law that all of his subjects should wash the whole body 
for the purpose of cleansing the whole mind, even though the body was al- 
ready clean. He did not teach them that this was a parable and that they 
should wash and cleanse the mind, but he taught them that this mortal wash- 
ing of itself cleansed the mind, and by this teaching he made Sadducees 
(hypocrites), for they could plainly see that their mind was as foul after they 
had washed their body as before. 

As we pass down we find this washing of the mortal body (of the Sad- 
ducees as well as of the Pharisees) for the purpose of cleansing the mind. 
But before Moses passed away this washing received a new name (bathing ) 
Under those two names (washing and bathing) we find it recorded and prac- 
ticed for the sake of cleansing the mind down to a period of about 600 years 
B. C. 

During this six hundred years of lost record this washing or bathing 
for the remission of sins took on still another new name (baptism). 


THE ORIGIN OF BAPTISM. 


487 


Just when and where this new name (baptism) sprang up we know not, 
but we have traced it through Moses’ law, and again we find it in practice be - 
fore Jesus intermingled in it, for we find John in the water in its practice for 
the sake of cleansing the mind, and we find that it was all right to wash and 
cleanse the mortal body as well as the mind (the divine being or spirit), and 
if it was a right act it was a righteous act. We find it was a right act 
recorded in Moses’ law; therefore, it was a part of the righteousness of 
Moses’ law, and as Jesus only rejected unrighteousness — as Jesus never 
rejected any righteousness — we find him to come and ask John to suffer him 
to fulfill that righteousness also. 

Now, we have searched this bathing or washing from its very smallest 
root, and we cannot find a person but what will say that every step of its ad- 
vancement sprang from a clean spot in the mind'. The atheist, the infidel, 
the heathen, the very worst people on the face of the earth, will say that the 
washing of the hands, the face, the feet and the whole mortal body is a right 
or a righteous act, and that it sprang from a clean spot in the human mind. 
To-day those people build bathrooms in their houses that they can wash, 
bathe, and cleanse their mortal body, and so fulfil this righteous set. 

Rev. J said to be sprinkled with water would not fulfill the bill; 

that we must go wholly into the water and come entirely out of the water — 
“except ye be born again ye cannot enter the kingdom of heaven.” This 
again is another parable. It is the mind that will enter the king- 
dom of heaven. It is the mind that must be born again. But 
what must it be born of ? It is the mind that must go entirely into what? 
into the mind of Christ; it is the human mind that must grow up wholly out 
of what? out of the mind of Christ; and it is the mind that must be im- 
mersed in the waters of Christ: and if there are churches that sprinkle a little 
water on the mortal body, in parable to sprinkling a little of the mind of 
Christ over their mind, 1 would not quarrel with them about it, but I would 
rather go to the bathroom in a dwelling house, and explain to them how the 
people can fill that tub with water, and bury themselves wholly in that water 

how they can wash themselves in that water and make themselves 

clean, and come entirely out of that water and so let the mortal body be 
born again ; and again : and then in a parable teach them to take their mind 
into the great tank of Christ, and immerse it in the great waters of Christ, 
again and again, and so keep their own mind cleaner and whiter than snow 
by that spiritual washing. 

Now, as I believe that immersion is perfectly powerless as to helping 
anyone to do right or to talk right, as I believe that immersion is perfectly 
powerless as to hindering any one from doing wrong ; I believe baptism to 
be a parable to cleansing the mind, found to be so from the first creation, 
used as such by Jesus Christ, and acknowledged by Him as a righteous act 
in Moses’ law ; and as I believe it to be a righteous act to-day in the dwelling 
houses. I do not believe it necessary for people calling themselves religious 
to quarrel over it any longer, but I leave all people to choose for themselves 


488 


HOW ARE WE LED? 


whether they will go down into the water and be immersed, as I believe that 
Jesus was immersed; or, whether they have a little water sprinkled on them, 
or whether they go into a bathroom and there form an idea how they must 
wash and cleanse their own carnal mind in the “waters of Christ ” ( mind of 
God), in order to enter the kingdom of God. 

Have I to be immersed before I can enter the kingdom of heaven? A 
preacher once told me that the mortal body of Jesus was a perfect image of 
the divine body of God, and that our mortal body must be resurrected and 
translated into divinity, and then taken into heaven. I am perfectly willing 
to admit this to be the case, and all who feel it their duty to immerse the 
mortal body and prepare it for this translation should not be denied. But I 
believe, if C-od be a body like unto the body of man, He must visit the 
earth, in order to rule the earth ; He must visit the sun, in order to rule the 
sun; He must visit the moon in order to rule the moon; and He must visit 
each separate star in order to rule that star; and by the time He makes 
His circuit, He spends but precious little of His time upon the face of the 
earth: Thus, between circuits, the most of the time, leaving the earth to 
be run by chance — entirely without a ruler. And all other planets ditto. 

I believe that, as far as man is concerned with God, God is nothing 
more, nothing less than a great mind. God is a great mind on, in, and 
through the whole entire earth; on, in, and through the entire sun, moon 
and each and every planet: I believe that God is a universal mind extended 
to all planets to govern them all at once and at the same time; and I be- 
lieve that when man was created,, it was the mind of man created in the 
image of God; and I believe that it is the mind of man that we shall wash, 
cleanse, and make ready for heaven; I believe that it is the mind of man 
that we shall baptize to make ready for heaven. It is the mind of man that 
must be “ baptized with the Holy Ghost.” “For John truly baptized with 
water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost.” It is right to be 
baptized with water, but it is necessary to be baptized with the Holy Ghost 
in order to gain heaven. 


CHAPTER X. 


The children of the poor. The magic lantern. Children’s training. Israelite 
and Christian. Father and mother died of grief, the father and son had quar- 
reled one night. 

I once came in possession of a book entitled “The Children of the 
Poor.” As I was reading on page 288, I read of one describing his exper- 
ience in a lecture where a magic lantern was displayed. I will have to repeat 
a few of his words, and at the same time express some of my ideas. 

I will begin with his statement referring to the magic lantern. 


489 


THE CHILDREN OF THE POOR. 

‘ ‘The last picture put on the screen showed the open trench in the pot- 
ter’s field. When it had passed the secretary of the convention, a clergyman, 
whose life had been given to rescue work among homeless boys, told how 
there had just come to join him in his work, the man who had until very 
lately been in charge of this potter’s field. His experience there had taught 
him that the waste before which he stood” this waste that he speaks of, is the 
worthless people that are buried in the potter’s field. Some people may be 
so poor as to find their last resting place in the potters field, yet in earlier 
life they might not have been worthless people; whilst on the other hand, 
some of those worthless people that he calls a waste, never reach the potter’s 
field. But he goes on to say “he stood helpless at that end of the line,” 
the line that he speaks of is mortal line, he stood at the grave — at the last 
end ; and that was not the place to make a reform, but the place was at the 
front end of the line — youth. He goes on to say that he, ‘ ‘looking on with- 
out power to check or relieve, that waste must be stopped at its course. So 
he turned from the dead to the living pledging the years that remained to 
him to that effect. ” 

The writer says, “it struck me then, and it has seemed to me since, that 
this man’s position to the problem was most comprehensive. The evidence of 
his long-range view was convincing. Society had indeed arrived at the same 

diagnosis some time before It had conjectured that if the ‘tough’ whom 

it must maintain in idleness behind prison-bars, to keep him from preying 
upon it, was a creature of environment, is not justly to blame (here he says 
that the prisoner is not justly to blame, but) the community must be, for 
allowing him to grow up a ‘tough. ’ ” 

It appears that the writer of this book, “The Children of the Poor,” is of 
the same opinion that I am — that it is of no use to begin at the latter end of 
the line to prevent the mortal life from being a waste. Again he agrees with 
me by saying that the prisoner is not “justly to blame,” for a person that is 
permitted to grow up a “tough,” must do the works of a “tough.” But, 
where does he place the blame? After a person has half or two- thirds grown 
up a tough, then he says, “the community must be to blame ’’for not 
using civil law or other means, and prohibit that person from “growing up a 
tough.” The old priest said, “give me the training of your child the first 
ten years of its life, and it will carry my teachings to its grave.” 

Let me say here that Mr. Hus’ book is an excellent book, but he is treat- 
ing on the industrial cultivation of children after they get old enough to leave 
their mother’s care, and I agree with him there. I say that there are none of 
us that make our children work enough. There are none of us that hold our 
children back from play enough (especially in the towns and cities). There 
are none of us that keep our children from running from place to place on 
Sunday, and on every idle moment that they can get through the week. It 
is a pleasure for youth to run, but it brings a curse to their old age. 

I am well aware of the saying, that “all work and no play makes Jack a 
dull boy/ But on the other hand; “all play and no work makes Sal a per- 


490 


HOW AKE WE LED? 


feet flirt.” And as Mr. Rus and others have taken up the industrious ques- 
tion, I will leave it entirely in their hands, and ask all to exercise good judg- 
ment. I will only say that mothers cannot teach their child too early to do 
some little trifling work. Never tell your child to do what is unreasonable, 
but when you have told it what to do, see that it does it. The mind of 
thousands of children are hurt through neglect of work, where the mortal 
body of one is hurt by work. 

As for righteousness or crime Mr. Rus does not go back far enough to 
find its roots. He does not touch the girl (that is most needed), but he goes 
back to the boys that are found in the community, and says that community 
is to blame for letting them grow a “tough.” I go back to the birth of both 
girl and boy; girls are too often found to be “toughs,” and I tell the mother 
that she is cultivating iniquity there. And then I say that I have not gone 
back far enough to catch inheritance. Let our preachers teach it in the 
pulpit. 

On page 74, Mr. *Rus says “it is rather that their opportunities of mis- 
chief are greater than those of harmless amusement, made so, it has seemed 
to me, with deliberate purpose to hatch the ‘tough.’ Given idleness and the 
street, and he (the tough) will grow without other encouragement.” 

He says “their opportunities of mischief are greater than those of 
harmless amusements.” But that is not so. You turn children out to play 
and their harmless amusement is sure to come first, but they may indulge in 
a half dozen freaks of harmless amusement and the bystander will not notice 
or count them, but when they come to their first freak of mischief all but 
parents notice that and mark it down; that is why those opportunities appear 
the greater. There is no child turned out to play that can remain steady at 
one thing, therefore when their freaks of harmless amusements are exhausted, 
the mother should return them to some kind of labor, though their labor 
brings in no compensation. It is a change, a rest, and of great value to the 
child’s mind. ” 

He further says that their opportunities of mischief are greater, as it 
seemed to him, for the “purpose to hatch the ‘tough.’ ” To this I say that 
three- fourths of the children are “toughs,” hatched so at their birth, but 
many of their mothers compel them to obey her commands, and learn them 
to submit to self-denial, and so do away with that “tough,” whilst on the 
other hand more of their mothers permit them to indulge in disobedience and 
idleness, and so pretty nearly develop that “tough,” before it is seen by the 
public. This too often occurs in the rich and intelligent family. We too 
often find “toughs” in the educated family, and they are the “toughest tough” 
that we have. 

He further says, “given idleness and the street, and he (the tough) will 
grow without other encouragement.” This is true, the child’s mind must 
grow; and, as the tough seed is sown there by inheritance, when the child is 
born, the tough is hatched, and when the child is turned to the street in 
idleness, without the mother’s constant eye, we must expect the seed that 


THE ALLEY GANG. 


491 


Inheritance has sown there, to grow there, which is constantly fed by nature 
and street observation. But it is a rare case, where the mother has thought 
enough of cultivating her child’s mind so as to keep that “tough” down until 
her child is old enough to go to school, that she will then permit her child 
to run in idleness in the street. Yet on the other hand, the mother that tries 
to raise her child in the best of industrial and literary cultivation, is sur- 
rounded by fault-finders who will try to make that child, and all others, 
believe that the child is mis-used. Children will go astray, they cannot help 
it ; it is outside of human nature to keep straight and steady at one thing, 
either play or work, without some power to keep them there, and if mothers 
do not correct them and compel them to go correctly they will go astray even 
before her face and eyes. Neighbors may threaten to report you to the 
humane society, but it is not the careful strictness that those societies oppose, 
neither is it the whip that they oppose, but it is the angry manner in which 
it is applied that they oppose. A superintendent of a house of refuge once 
wrote an article containing these words : ‘ ‘It is essential to have the plays of 
the children more carefully watched than their work;” knowing that watch- 
fulness without compulsion is of but little avail. The mother that never 
allows herself to get mad when she gives her commands, and will never jaw 
and scold, but keep her words mild, pleasant and positive, availeth much. It 
is watchfulness, positiveness and pleasantness that makes a good child. If 
you have to use a whip to enforce positiveness, if you never allow yourself to 
get mad when you use a whip, you will never harm the child. Civil law often 
uses a weapon that will injure the body; yes, a weapon that will break bones 
— and it often breaks a bone that a physician cannot set — the gallows, instead 
of a whip. 

Mr. Rus, on page 184, wrote “it was within sight of this spot that the 
alley gang beat one of his comrades half to death for telling them to go 
home and let decent people pass. The same gang which afterwards murdered 
young Healey for the offense of being a decent, hard-working lad, who was 
trying to support his aged father and mother by his work. The Healey’s lived 

in one of the rear houses that murder was done on his doorstep. The 

next morning I found the gang camped on the vacant floor in the adjoining 
den, as if nothing had happened. The tenants knew the toughs were there, 
but were afraid to betray them. ” 

This alley gang was never trained to obey their mother, but had learned 
to go ahead and do what they pleased regardless of what their mother said. 
They had followed the practice of going ahead and doing whatever they 
pleased regardless of what the police said, and they had come to defy civil 
authority or the whole community of compelling them to obey a righteous 
command. 

May all Christian associations unite in teaching the mothers that the 
mothers must shoulder the condemnation for the crimes of their “toughs,” 
both in this world and in the world to come. 

First . In this world the mother’s anxiety for her child harasses and 


492 


HOW AKE WE LED? 


torments her until it often takes her to her grave, continually growing, upon 
her mind. 

Second. If a man or woman have a spirit, that spirit can be but naught 
except it possesses the mind that causes it to understand, and realize, and 
designate whether it be my spirit or your spirit. Therefore my spirit must 
contain my mind and your spirit must contain your mind. Therefore that 
mother’s spirit must contain that mother’s tormented and harassed mind, and 
must carry it into the great eternity. 

Third. If there be no annihilation there can be no possible chance of 
casting out this torment and harassment and placing others in its stead after 
it has passed into eternity, therefore it must contain this harassment and 
torment without any change » whatever except its natural growth, which is 
continually. 

Fourth. If we are created in the image of God, our minds must be an 
everlasting mind as His is an everlasting mind, therefore the mother of the 
“tough” must bear the burden of the crime of that “tough,” through time 
and all eternity, here in this life, except she repents (repent means to quit, 
change, and do different). Except she repents, gives up her own child— “the 
tough” — and becomes a teacher to try to bring other children into Christ — 
tries to teach others to do away with that “toughness” among their children. 

If this mother be a Jew she has the same chance of a Gentile to repent, 
give up her own child — “that tough” — and become a teacher, teaching other 
mothers in precisely the same way — to do away with toughness among her 
children, and raise them up true Israelites, for it is all one thing. 

All that constituted Israel (in his origination) was the mind of God — 
the spirit of God that dwelt in the body of Jacob. All that constituted 
Christ (in his origination) was the mind of that very same God — the spirit of 
that very same God, that dwelt in the body of Jesus. 

We claim that a greater portion of the spirit of God dwelt in the body of 
Jesus than what dwelt in the body of Jacob; she may claim that a greater 
portion of the spirit of God dwelt in the body of Jacob than what dwelt in 
the body of Jesus, but we won’t quarrel about that, let Jew and Gentile 
unite together and cultivate the mind of God in all of our children, unitedly; 
then we will have the spirit of the very same God in our own children, that 
dwelt in the body of Jesus, and that dwelt in the body of Jacob. Let our 
strife be, to see who can raise the child that will possess the greatest portion 
of the spirit of that one true God. 

I find a piece of music composed by one L. Henry Freeman, but* as 
he has copyrighted it, I have no right to use it in music, but I can ust. the 
poetry as prose to show to the world the idea that his music conveys — that 
the mother must suffer and die in default — not of herself, but, in default of 
the father and the son : I say in default of mother. 

“In an old fashioned chair, drawn up close to the hearth, an aged father sat 
thinking one day; and the tears filled his eyes, as in fancy he saw, the dear face 


THE MORTAL TONGUE IS CRUEL. 


493 


of his boy far away. They had quarreled one night, cruel words were exchanged, 
they had parted in sorrow and pain, and those words harshly spoken, he fain 
would recall, to bring back his dear boy once again. 

“Many years have gone by, but he does not return, and the old folks are bur- 
dened with care; just to see him once more, how their fond hearts did yearn, 
and they nightly did bless him in pray’r; but one day they got word from a far 
distant shore — and their sorrow can never be known; for a stranger wrote them, 
that, their boy was no more, he had died unprotected — alone. 

“In an old country churchyard, so shady and green — faraway from the noise 
of the town; there are two lonely graves, and they lay side by side, in the shade 
of an oak bending down. It is only a month since the sad message came, that 
death robbed them of one they most loved; and so free from life’s sorrows, their 
spirit had flown, for to seek him in heaven above. 

“Words harshly spoken bring sorrow and pain; fond hearts are broken and 
suffer in vain; heart aches and anguish, time may cure for all; but words harshly 
spoken can ne’er be recalled. ” 

The above quoted words tell us that the father and the son had quarreled 
one night, and had parted in sorrow and pain: and that separation was final 
and forever. And what was the consequence? The son died in a foreign 
land, homeless, friendless, and unprotected. The father died broken hearted, 
in sorrow and pain: and the mother shared equally with the father. One 
month after the sad news came that the son was dead, they were both laid 
away forever. 

What a death the mortal being must die: and what is it for? Why 
should the human mind pass into the great eternity in such sorrow, grief and 
pain? Was the father a Christian? What is Christianity? Did the father 
repent of the cruel, harsh words that were used? The mortal tongue is the 
most cruel member that can be exercised. But what is repentance? Re- 
pentance is to stop, quit, do so no more. The father did quit, and did quarrel 
with the boy no more, but, was that repentance? Would he have quarreled 
with the son had the son come back where they could have quarreled? 
If the father had truly repented, if the father was truly a Christian, why 
should he have died such a death of horror and despair? What can wipe 
away the punishment that the human tongue had created? But the greatest 
question yet to ask, is, why should the mother share the father’s fate? Why 
should the mother die with grief and pain? Where were the roots of this 
quarrel, and of those angry words? Why should the burdens of this quarrel 
rest upon the shoulders of this mother? Dear reader, the root of those angry 
words were sprouted in the mother’s bosom. 

When father was a little infant, if grandmother had planted the seed of 
righteousness in his bosom, if grandmother had cultivated his mind in mild 
and pleasant, but positive words, if mother had set the example of mildness 
and pleasantness, with positiveness, the father would have understood how to 
govern his son with mild and pleasant words. Dear reader, when the son 
was a little infant if the mother had given him as an inheritance, the mind of 

Jesus the seed of righteousness. If mother had cutlivated in his little 

bosom the tree of obedience, by compelling him to obey mother — to obey 


494 


HOW ARE WE RED? 


father — to obey his teacher and guide, from his birth up, on the night ol 
this quarrel he would have had a will to obey God’s commands, which is 
always right; then there would have been no grounds for this quarrel or for 
those angry words ; all would have been peace, love and unity. Grandmother 
let the father grow up with a corrupt tongue, and mother let the son grow up 
in a trying, disobedient way — with an unruly tongue. The father and son 
“had quarreled one night , cruel words were exchanged, and mother died in 
sorrow and pain.” The quarrel rooted in mother’s bosom, and ended mother’s 
life. 


CHAPTER XI. 

Second chart of the GREAT GULF of MORTAL LIFE. Examining the Protest- 
ant churches. Mothers should take more interest in preparing the spirit of 
their daughters for heaven than they can take in their own spirit. 

I have draw T n a circle representing the human mind — or the great gulf of 
life in which the human mind travels through. At the left I have drawn a very 
small circle representing the garden of Eden, in which the minds of Adam and 
Eve were created. F'rom this garden of Eden to the right I have drawn a line 
through the center. Below this line I have made this chart perfectly black with 
the darkness of sin. Above this line I have made it cloudy with iniquity, but 
the higher up we go the brighter and clearer it is, and at the top it is perfectly 
clear and light. From the garden of Eden to the left I have drawn an incline 
line representing the straight and narrow path to heaven. Those dark clouds of 
iniquity cover the space between the horizontal line and the straight and narrow 
path to heaven, and extend still above this path. As the minds of Adam and 
Eve were created in this garden of Eden, when their minds entered into disobe- 
dience they fell into the darkness of a degraded state of mind, and went on 
through life in that darkness. The white line through this darkness and just 
below the diameter is the path of Adam and Eve’s minds. 

As Cain was born in the darkness of evil, and as he went farther and farther 
into crime, his mind sank lower and lower into the darkness of sin. The white 
mark that goes downward, and becomes wider and more crooked, is the path of 
Cain’s mind. 

Abel also was born in the darkness of evil; but, as he strove to gain the 
light of righteousness, his mind ascended upward toward heaven. The first 
white mark that reaches upward to the straight and narrow path to heaven is 
the path of Abel’s mind. 

Noah, Abraham, Jacob, Moses and many others born in the darkness of in- 
iquity have sought for the light of righteousness, and the path of their mind also 
ascended upward to the straight and narrow path to heaven. 

Mary being in the righteous light from her youth, Jesus was born and raised 
in this light and as it was His perfect nature to seek after light, His mind gained 
the perfect light of righteousness before His crucifixion. The path of His mind 
went straight from His birth to the light of God. And the minds of His apostles 
are also represented as trying to follow His righteous path upward. 

The Catholic church was instituted for the purpose of seeking after this 
righteous light, but as it was instituted in an early Christian day, it was rooted 
in the darkness of imperfection, and its roots descended downward to the wide 

i 


THE CHART OF THE GREAT GULF OF MORTAL LIFE. 


495 


and crooked path of Cain. And as all other churches sprang from the Catholic 
church — down beneath the surface of this darkness — the roots of all churches 
are connected with the root of the Catholic church, so that no church nor no 
person were ever perfect and in the perfect light of God, except Jesus Christ, 



THE SECOND CHART OF THE GREAT GULF OF LIFE. 


In examining the Great Gulf of Life, we find that Adam and Eve 
were created in the Garden of Eden. But through disobedience they 
dropped into the everlasting darkness of iniquity, and passed clear through 
life just below the surface of this Great and Everlasting Darkness. And we 


496 


HOW ARE WE LED? 


find Cain, Abel, Seth, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Moses to be born 
just below the surface of this Great Darkness. And as we examine their 
paths, we find the path of Adam and Eve to run pretty nearly on a level, 
but just in the edge of the great darkness of disobedience, and we find them 
to pass out of the great gulf of life below the light of righteousness. We 
find the path of Cain to drop down, down, down into the Great Darkness 
of disobedience; and as we follow his path down, down, down, we find it to 
be very crooked and wide, and he passes out of the Great Gulf of Life far 
below the surface of this great darkness. 

Then we turn to look at the path of Abel, and we find it a- springing up 
into the Great Light of Righteousness. The path of Seth. Noah, Abra- 
ham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses and others all spring up into the righteous light 
and extend clear up to the straight and narrow path to heaven. When we 
look at this chart — gulf of life — we find it to be very cloudy between the sur- 
face of the darkness of disobedience and the straight and narrow path to 
heaven, and we find those clouds to be gathering clouds of sin and disobedi- 
ence of God’s commandments, and we see that they extend still above the 
straight and narrow path of righteousness. And as we look back toward those 
ancient righteous people we see that they strove to climb toward this great 
righteous light; but, as those clouds extended far above this straight and 
narrow path, we perceive that they never fully gained the perfect light of 
righteousness. 

Then we come on a little farther, and we find one “Mary” striving to 
reach the straight and narrow path to heaven, and we find her raised far 
above the surface of this great darkness; and on the borders of this straight 
and narrow path we find her to give birth to one — “Jesus.” As Jesus was 
born, raised and cultivated on the borders of this righteous path, and as He 
strove to climb higher and higher into this great light , we find that He rose 
far above all the dark clouds of disobedience and passed out of the great 
gulf of life at the very top of its brightest sunshine. We find Jesus to be 
the only one ever recorded that climbed above the straight and narrow path 
to heaven — that ever passed through all of the dark clouds of disobedience — 
that ever gained the perfect light of obedience, and the only one that ever 
passed out of the Great Gulf of Life at its very highest and brightest 
gleam of sunshine. And why was it so? It was so because He was the only 
one that ever drank in so much of the mind of God — so because He was the 
only one that ever let His whole body be fully controlled by the mind of God — 
so because he was the only one that would not permit his body to yield to the 
mind of the devil — so because he depended upon his own pure and righteous 
judgment and would not be governed by the judgment of those who out- 
wardly pretended to be religious whilst their hearts were far from God. 

Then, as we come on down through the great gulf of mortal life, we find 
the path of eleven of Jesus’ apostles (and others), who strove to reach the 
great light of obedience; but, as the clouds of iniquity had risen to their 
highest extremes, and as the straight and narrow path was still higher than 


THE ROOT OP ALL THE CHURCHES. 


497 


ever before, they rose higher than any had ever risen before them ; yet they 
did not get to the top of the dark and heathenish clouds of iniquity; they 
only got up to the righteous path that would take them into heaven. 

Then we turn back to see the path of others — and of one of the twelve 
apostles — that did not raise toward this great righteous light, but the re- 
verse. They fell into everlasting darkness, and the farther down they went 
the wider and more crooked we find their path to be. The farther man, 
woman or child goes into the darkness of iniquity, the more crooked and the 
wider their path spreads out. 

Then we come on down a little farther, and we find Constantine the 
Great, and we find him to be a ruler over the whole Roman nation. When 
he turned toward the great light he raised himself up to the straight and 
narrow path of righteousness; but, recollect, he did not go any above that 
path ; he did not raise himself entirely out of the dark clouds of iniquity ; he 
did not raise himself into perfect light. But he took the position of a 
teacher; he formed a church and began to teach his people to climb toward 
the great righteous light. But was he perfect? We look back beyond him and 
see that the apostles, in following the teachings of Jesus, had gone into many 
different places and had built up churches of religious teachings. But they 
were all one thing, like the Campbellites or any other one denomination, they 
had many different congregations, and many different buildings, yet they 
were all of one denomination, not of different sects. But when Constantine 
built his church, he framed its constitution and made its by-laws to suit his 
own taste; and said it should be Catholic; that is it should be free to all peo- 
ple — the word Catholic means freedom — his church should be Catholic to all, 
but his own people should be bound and compelled to live up to the require- 
ments of his church. But when we look at its foundation what do we see? 
We see that its great support — the main root of this church extends down in- 
to utter darkness, like the path of Judas, and all other paths that have 
dropped down ‘into this darkness of iniquity has gone down, down, down, 
until they have intersected the wide and crooked path of Cain, that spreads 
over the whole darkness of iniquity, and passes out of the great gulf of mortal 
life far below its darkest surface. And the main root of Constantine’s church 
extends down into this darkness of crime and iniquity, and intersects the 
wide and crooked path of Cain. 

Then we turn to look at the many churches of the Apostles, and what do 
we find there? We find that the churches and the religious workers were 
pressed down and crushed out, and the darkness of iniquity risen higher than 
it had ever been before, and came on down that way for many years; and that 
period of time is known to-day as the dark-ages. It is called the dark ages 
because this darkness of iniquity was for thirteen hundred years after Con- 
stantine’s new church was established, continually crushing every advancing 
idea of righteous light. 

After those thirteen hundred years had rolled away — after those dark 
ages had 'passed by — after this great darkness began to settle down, other 


498 


HOW ARE WE LED? 


churches began to spring up, calling themselves Protestant churches, protest- 
ing against the Catholic church, and telling us that the Catholic church is not 
shedding forth true Christianity. 

Then we turn to examine those Protestant churches, and what do we find 
there? We find that every Protestant church on earth, is an off-spring of the 
old Catholic church ; and we find that their root — their foundation — their very 
bottom is connected with the root of the old Catholic church, and is extended 
down into this everlasting darkness ; even down into the wide and crooked 
path of Cain. And we find that the dark clouds of iniquity are still hovering 
over the roof of all our churches: and the great question is, how shall we clear 
those dark clouds from over our church? How shall we extract the roots of 
our church from this great darkness, and plant them in the great eternal 
light of righteousness By teaching our mothers that obedience is righteous- 
ness : By teaching our mothers that in order to walk in perfect obedience, to 
God’s will, through this great gulf of mortal life, we must walk in obedience 
to the will of fathers, mothers, teachers and guides, whilst our little mind is 
yet growing. By teaching our mothers to take more interest in sending the 
spirit of their daughters to heaven than that of their own. By teaching our 
mothers to learn their daughters to do better in every respect than what they 
themselves do: By teaching our mothers that they show to God a repentance 
of their own transgressions ; of which shall be atoned for— of which shall be 
washed away and be made whiter than snow, by amending their own ways, by 
their teachings to their daughters. 

When we raise our children in that way, we will fill our churches with 
members that will raise above the clouds of iniquity, and place our churches 
both root and branch in the purest light of Christ. 

The greatest atonement that a mother can make for her own sins, is to 
teach her sons and daughters to better obey all right commands than she (the 
mother) is capable of obeying — to teach her children to live in greater sub- 
mission to self-denial — to more frequently submit to self-denial (of things 
that they seem to think they ought to have) than the mother is capable of 
submitting to. The mother can make the greatest atonement for her own 
sins, that can be made, by compelling her children to do better works and 
use milder words than she herself is capable of doing. The mother can make 
the greatest atonement for her own sins, that can be made, by giving to her 
children as an inheritance, and by cultivating and growing in her children a 
better disposition than the mother herself has, or can make of her own dis- 
position — compel your children — especially your daughters, to be mild and 
pleasant in both words and works, and practice self-denial in all kinds of 
wants and, most especially in going abroad, to all kinds of parties or sprees. 


CHAPTER XII. 


What is baptism for? The baptism of the Holy Ghost? Do the preachers tell us 
all about the Bible? As the kernel of corn is planted, and bringeth forth the 
many fold, so must the body of man be planted also. The name Jesus 
cleanses all sin. 

I was once expressing my opinion, in the presence of a preacher, in 
regard to death and resurrection. 

I remarked that death is separation, and nothing but separation: and 
that resurrection is restoration. 

I further remarked that spiritual death is the separating of the human 
mind from the mind of God, and that spiritual resurrection is the resurrection 
of the human mind, again, to unity with the mind of God: And that first 
death — first separation takes place whilst the human mind is here in this 
mortal body, and that first resurrection — first restoration must also take place 
whilst the mind is yet here in this mortal body; and subject to frequent 
change, as is apt to be the case with the human mind. And that the great 
death and great resurrection are also spiritual, spiritual death — separation, 
and spiritual resurrection— restoration ; and takes place when the human 
mind leaves this mortal body — when the human mind ceases to be subject to 
frequent change. 

1 also remarked that the human mind is the spirit of man, and that the 
human mind is the thing to wash, to cleanse, to make whiter than snow; the 
mind is the thing to prepare for everlasting happiness in heaven. 

I told them that the mind is all that realizes happiness or sorrow, 
pleasure or pain, comfort or grief: The mind is all that plots, plans, or brings 
into execution every word or act that the mortal body performs. And that 
the mind is all that will ever realize anything in eternity: And the mind 
must be resurrected to God whilst here in this mortal body, if we ever gain 
heaven. I told them that this mortal body might be baptized in water — the 
baptism of John, but the mind must be baptized in the baptism of the Holy 
Ghost whilst here in this mortal body if we ever gain heaven. 

This preacher told me that he disagreed with me. He had previously 
told me that anything newer than the New Testament is outside of Christian- 
ity and that it cannot enter into heaven. 

The next Sunday night I heard this preacher preach a sermon on resur- 
rection. He preached a long, good sermon, telling us that the mortal body 
must be resurrected out of the grave, unto everlasting life; the just unto ever- 
lasting happiness in heaven, and the unjust unto everlasting damnation. But 
in his sermon he did not speak of preparing the mind for heaven. He said 
that the meaning of the word resurrection is to raise up, bring up, come up. 
This agrees with me ; that when the human mind has fallen from the purity of 


500 


HOW ARE WE LED? 


God — purity in which it was born, into a degraded state of mind, it must be 
raised up, brought up again to a purer and better grade of mind — must be re- 
stored to purity of the mind of God. He said that to comprise resurrection the 
mortal body must be raised up out of the grave, and the spirit and the mind 
must be restored and united to the mortal body, again agreeing with me that 
resurrection is restoration. I say to resurrect one for heaven, is to restore and 
unite the mind with the mind of God. He says to resurrect one for heaven, 
is to raise up the mortal body of the just and restore and unite the mind to 
that mortal body. I say when a thing is united as the mind of a babe is 
united with the mind of God, and when that thing is separated as the mind 
of the sinner is separated from the mind of God, there can be no resurrection 
except there be restoration. 

This idea is newer than the New Testament; can it enter the kingdom of 
heaven? 

Our preachers go to extremes in teaching us that every word of the 
Bible is the inspired word of God, and that we must believe it just as they 
construe it. But there is something about the Bible that they won’t tell you. 
I say that the Bible is inspired, and when you come to study its true meaning 
you have something to study upon. 

I know that I vary a little from the Bible and so bring out ideas newer 
than the New Testament. The Bible says, “Behold how good and how 
pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity. It is like precious 
ointment upon the head,” etc. I say, “Behold how good and how pleasant it 
is for companions to dwell together in unity.” It is like angels in heaven 
bringing happiness to each other until the end of time. Moses said, ‘ ‘Thou 
shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.” I say love thy companion as thyself: 
Let love and Christianity grow at home first, then spread its branches to thy 
neighbor. 

Does this bring out ideas newer than the New Testament? If so shall 
they be debarred from heaven? 

Our preachers go to extremes in telling us of the miracles that you 
are unable to believe, and so drive you into infidelity. I tell you something 
that you can believe and so raise your mind up out of degradation and resur- 
rect it to the mind of the God who gave it. 

Shortly after hearing this preacher’s sermon, I met him and conversed 
with him in regard to the resurrection. I told him that some people thought 
that if this mortal body be divided, and the feet and legs be buried in 
the extreme south, and years afterward the remainder of the body be buried 
in the extreme north, that on the great resurrection day that body will be 
brought together and raised up a perfect form. He said that he did not 
know as this same body would be raised, but a body like it would be raised. 
Then he quoted me Paul’s words, in his letter to the Corinthians. And I 
asked him was Paul perfect? He undertook to say yes, but choked, and I 
asked him the third time before he answered that “they were not exactly 
perfect, for they disagreed among themselves; if they had been entirely per- 


PAUL WAS BUT MORTAL. 


501 


feet they would have agreed.” Then I asked him, shall we look for perfect 
writings from an imperfect man? Paul, no doubt, was doing the very best 
that he could to Christianize the world, yet, could he give perfect writings, 
being himself imperfect? To this the preacher made no answer, but changed 
the subject by quoting Paul’s words and remarking, “As a kernel of corn is 
planted, so the mortal body of man must be planted, and as the corn groweth 
up and bringeth forth the new kernel; so the body of man must spring up and 
bring forth a new body like unto this one. ‘ That which thou sowest is not 
quickened except it die: and that which thou sowest, thou sowest not that 
body which shall be’ ... . all flesh is not the same flesh. Thus as a kernel of 
corn is planted, decayeth and wasteth away, so must the body of man be 
planted, and must waste away: and as new corn groweth from that kernel 
planted, even so must a new body grow from that body planted.” 

This brings a new idea to my mind: If we make the mortal body of man 
like unto a kernel of corn, the growth from that body must bring forth fruits 
as the growth from that kernel of com bringeth forth its fruits. As the 
kernel of corn is planted, groweth up, and bringeth forth one thousand kernels 
of corn, even so must the mortal body of man be planted, grow up, and bring 
forth one thousand mortal bodies.” 

Even though Paul wrote this quotation, I believe that the growth of the 
mortal body of man cannot be compared with the growth of corn. 

As knowledge, judgment, and understanding has greatly grown since the 
New Testament was written, I must place more confidence in good judgment 
than in the preacher’s quotations: and I cannot help forming new ideas of 
baptizing the mind with the Holy Ghost, and of resurrecting the mind to God. 
This is simple and plain, and when once explained any person can see it 
clearly, and without such extreme preaching. 

I believe in parents growing up the mind of their child under the 
baptism of the Holy Ghost; and I express such ideas, but not by extreme 
preaching of great miracles that the human being can take no part in, but by 
simplicity that we all can take part in. “ Suffer little children to come unto 
me, . . . .for of such is the kingdom of heaven.” “But in vain do they wor- 
ship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men/’ 

When we feed the mind such extreme teachings that cannot be digested, 
we get no growth except infidelity. But when we feed the mind such things 
as can be digested, then we can get a growth of righteousness. 

I believe in resurrecting the human mind whilst it can be resurrected. If 
the preachers can resurrect this mortal body, after it has mouldered in the 
grave, and place my resurrected mind into that mortal body for all eternity, 
I shall be satisfied; my mind will do all the realizing. If the preachers 
resurrect one thousand mortal bodies, and place my resurrected mind in 
those thousand bodies; I shall be satisfied: my mind will do the realizing 
just the same. Or if the preachers find something else for my spirit, and 
place my mind in that spirit; or if they leave my mind entirely without a 
spirit, it’s all the same to me, it’s the mind that realizes happiness and sorrow, 


502 


HOW ARK WK LED? 


and it’s the mind that I shall ever advocate washing, cleansing and preparing 
for heavenly happiness. It’s the mind that should be resurrected to God. 

1 will say that Jesus was not a literate man ; He did no writing Himself, 
but left His writing to mortal men , the same as you and I — to man possessed 
of humane frailty , the same as you and I — subject to err , the same as you 
and I. The Bible was inspired into men and written by men desirous of 
teaching the world righteousness, yet they were not perfect, and did err. 

The scriptures of the Bible are sacred: yet we have other writing just 
as sacred to God. The scriptures of the Bible were inspired; yet we have 
other writings inspired by the very same God. The purpose of God’s in- 
spiring the scriptures of the Bible, was to purify the human mind, and He 
has the same desire still to-day : and we cannot begin too young, or do too 
much in that way. Mothers cultivate the mind of your child and make it a 
greater lover of morality that your own mind can be. “Suffer little children 
to come unto me ( morality), for of such is the kingdom of God. ” 

The preachers can’t except this, but I tell you there is many a true 
Christian gone to heaven, whilst the preacher in preaching their funeral 
sermon, has told us that they have gone to everlasting damnation, just 
because that person did not believe his extreme preaching. And many a 
wretched sinner’s funeral sermon has been preached, telling us that that 
sinner has gone to heaven just because they have belonged to their church. 

We are taught that the human being has a spirit, and that spirit stinks 
with sin, and that stink is offensive to God, and God will not have that spirit 
in heaven. Every word, every act, and every thought that is incident to the 
human being is tinctured with that sinful smell, and upon that account they 
are evil. 

Bemember what I say, and understand me as I say it; and then use 
you own judgment. We are taught that there is a difference between sin, and 
evil. Sin is a nasty stink smell that is cast upon every human spirit, through 
the fall of Adam and Eve. Evil is a word, an act, a thought that is incident 
to the mortal being. Then remember that we have a musk that washes 
the spirit, wipes away every particle of sin, and prepares it for heaven ; and 
this musk is precisely this: 

“We believe that there is but one God. ” “We believe that the scrip- 
tures of the Old and New Testament, are the word of God.” “We believe 
that man was created holy, but fell from that state by transgression in eating 
the forbidden fruit. ” “We believe that God worketh all things after the 
counsel of His own will.” “We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ, by His 
obedience, suffering and death, made an atonement for sin.” “ We believe 
that although through this atonement whosoever will, may come to Christ, 
yet such is the depravity of the heart, that no one will come .... unless drawn 
by the special influence of the Holy Spirit.” “We believe that God from 
eternity .... chose in Christ, a certain number .... whom He effectually calls by 
His Spirit.” “ We believe that .... by their growth in grace, and conformity 
to the will of God, as revealed in the Bible attain an assurance of salvation. ” 


JESUS WiS A GOOD MORALIST. 


503 


“We believe that Christ has appointed for His church, two ordinances, baptism 
and the Lord’s supper. ” “We believe that there will be a resurrection of 
the bodies, both of saints and sinners, and all will be judged according to 
the deeds done in the body.’' Then they sprinkle a little water on the 
mortal body. 

Though those articles of faith are the musk that drowns the stinking 
sin of man — that wipes away sin, yet this church goes ahead of some others 
in covenanting with its members. All churches have their musk to drown 
the stink of sin, yet some are better than others. 

A preacher once told me that this church was a branch of the Catholic 
church (I told him that all churches are branches of the Catholic church; 
the Catholic church is the mother church of all), yet this church is a head of 
that preacher’s church in covenanting with its members that they shall be 
“ patterns of all that is lovely and of good report;” and farther covenanting 
that they shall raise their children “up in the nurture and admonition of 
the Lord ” 

In article 6 they say that none can be a Christian except they are 
“ drawn by the special influences of the Holy Spirit,” yet they covenant with 
their members that they shall practice good morals themselves and raise their 
children to practice good morals. And I believe that they are right there, 
we have our own work to do to become a Christian. Jesus was a good mor- 
alist, and if we follow his example, we have got to practice good morals. 

In article 5 they tell us that Jesus Christ made an “atonement for our 
sins, by his obedience, sufferings and death. I believe that Christ atones 
for our sins; but not the Christ that dwelt in the body of Jesus, but the 
Christ that dwells in our own body. You find a true moralist in their church, 
and you will find a true Christian; but you find one that is not a true moral- 
ist, and you will find one that depends upon their faith alone. 

We are none of us perfect; and every mother that sees that her own 
nature is sinful, if she tries to raise the nature of her child better than her- 
self — every person that tries to raise the nature of the children that are 
around them, better than their own nature, they atone for their own sins, and 
it is the Christ that dwells in their own body that makes this atonement. 

So you see that their musk is not strong enough to overpower, or drown 
my stinking sins, it is only good for their own church members. 

We have a church who say that they have no discipline whatever save 
the Bible. But they have this musk just the same to drown or wipe out 
their stinking sins. It does not do away with evil, but it wipes up sin. It is 
not printed, but the preachers have it stamped in their head, and you cannot 
get into their church except you confess their discipline, or musk. It is this : 
“Bo you believe that Jesus Christ was the true Son of God?” “Yes,” “Bo you 
believe that His obedience, sufferings and death atone for your sins?” “Yes.” 
“Bo you believe that through His resurrection you shall obtain everlasting 
life?” “Yes.” “God bless you for making this noble confession.” Then 
the mortal body must be immersed in water. 


504 


HOW ARE WE LED? 


Now you see that it is only faith and belief that wipes away those stink- 
ing sins; and if you have not that faith, you have not the musk that 
drowns the stink of sin, and there is nothing else that will let you into their 
church, or into heaven. 

Whilst conversing with this preacher that disagreed with me on resur- 
rection, I told him that I have a book that teaches me that this sin was 
brought upon all human beings through the disobedience of Adam and Eve. 
That Adam’s sins are not evils, and what we say or do are evils but not sins. 
Whilst sin is a smell, a stain, or a mark placed upon every mortal body, as 
upon Cain; and wickedness, or evil is altogether a different thing; this 
book teaches me that the “name Jesus” washes, cleans, and purifies this 
mortal body from that smell or stain that Adam put upon us. ‘ ‘Adam, ” one 
man, scented every mortal body with sin; and “the name Jesus,” name of 
one man, may cleanse every mortal body of that stinking sin. Page 296, 
“this name Jesus is better to us than all the titles of God.” The reason of 
this name was given by the angel to Joseph. “Thou shall call His name Jesus, 
for He shall save His people from their sins.” “Indeed there is goodness and 
greatness in the name J ehovah ; but .... in it alone there had been small com- 
fort for us; but in the name Jesus there is comfort, and with the name Jesus 
there is comfort in the name of God.” “Oh it is a useful name! In all 
depths, distresses, miseries, perplexities, we beseech God by the name Jesus, 
to make good His own name,” “As He is a saviour to save us. And this is 
our comfort, that God will never so remember our sins, as to forget His own 
blessed name ; and especially this name Jesus. It is the highest, the dearest, 
the sweetest name to us of all the names of God. ” 

“The reason of this name was given by the angel. . . . ‘Thou shall call 
His name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins.' But why 
from their sins? .... Sin is a thing that troubles but a few .... there would be 
no hell were it not for sin. ” 

Now this page has gone beyond extremes in telling us that the name 
“Jesus” signifies “a saviour.” We will turn to the books of the Apocrypha 
beginning 600 years B. C., and we will follow down that record until 200 
years B. C., and there we find two different men named “Jesus.” And they 
were good men; writing holy scripture. 

Though their scriptures are not recorded in our Holy Bible, yet they 
were written with just as good intent — and were just as much inspired by God, 
as any word of the Bible. And the writers bore the same name “Jesus.” 
that our savior bore; and hundreds of years before him. 

But the writer of this book says that we mustchallengingly pray to Jesus, 
and must flattteringly praise Him. Page 290. “We must call on Jesus, or 
on God the Father in and through Jesus. . . . We must pray. . . .using argu- 
ments of faith challenging God, turn thou me and. I shall be turned." “We 
must praise Him if we would have the blessings.” 

This book teaches us that sin and evil widely differ; evil is the wrong 
words, and the wrong acts committed by this mortal body here on this earth, 


THE MIND AND.TnE BODY. 


505 


whilst sin is a stain placed on this mortal body, as a penalty for the dis- 
obedience of Adam and Eve. And extremely teaches ns that this stain may 
be washed away through the “ name Jesus." The evil words and evil acts 
may continue in this mortal body, yet whosoever hath faith in the ‘ ‘name 
Jesus” hath no sin. Page 297. “There is no evil incident toman, but it 
ceaseth to be evil when sin is gone. If Jesus takes away sin. . . .as all evils 
are wrapped up in sin; so he that saves us from sin, saves us from all evils 
whatsoever.” This includes every evil that visits the face of the earth. We 
may murder, we may steal and plunder, make home a perfect hell upon earth, 
or any other evil that we see fit, and those acts cease to be evils ; where sin is 
wiped out, those acts must turn to be acts of goodness. 

When I showed the teachings of this book to my preacher in this light, 
he said it was a Catholic book. But when I told him that it was a Protestant 
book he said that the church of which this writer belonged was a branch of 
the Catholic church. He told me that his ‘ ‘church has no discipline save the 
Bible.” And as the Old Testament is abolished, dead and laid aside, it 
practically leaves the New Testament alone for their discipline. Yet I claim 
that their church has a discipline, though it is not printed, yet it is stamped 
in the preacher’s head, and you can’t get into their church except you confess 
their faith. And aside from that I can show that they teach this very 
same doctrine that this book teaches. 

You go into their church and they will preach to you of the resurrection 
of the mortal body. They will never preach to you of the resurrection of the 
mind, for they don’t believe in resurrecting it. They will teach you that you 
have a spirit, but they know not what that spirit is, therefore they know not 
how to prepare that spirit for heaven. When you join their church, they will 
immerse and cleanse the mortal body to prepare it for heaven; but they leave 
the soul wholly to Jesus to wash, to cleanse, to make whiter than snow, or to 
prepare for heaven. In fact they don’t know what the spirit is, so they give us 
no instructions of cleansing the spirit. 

If you have attended their funeral sermons, with observation of the 
sermon, and recollection of the past, I will show you this doctrine. Funeral 
sermons are preached to instruct the (or to please the) living, not to instruct 
the dead. 

I once knew a farmer that lived in one place for more than fifty years. 
Also a preacher living two miles from him, for the same length of time, both 
belonging to one and the same church the whole entire time. In early years 
this farmer’s house was publicly known to be a den of horse thieves. The 
preacher joined a vigilant committee, and with his gun would go at night and 
watch that house to catch the thieves. This created enmity between the 
farmer and the preacher, yet they never discharged him from their church. 
He voluntarily ceased to attend their church, and lived rather a retired life 
from church . After the gang of thieves had been scattered away and mostly 
forgotten — after the enmity between him and the preacher had greatly died 
away — after he had got quite old, he passed away, and I visited his funeral 


506 


HOW ARE, WE LED? 


to hear this very preacher officiate, and he being personally acquainted with 
the incidents of the farmer’s life, sketched it for more than fifty years, and 
told us that during all that time he had been a faithful Christian. Thus teach- 
ing us that “all evils incident to this man cease to be evil, just because he 
belonged to their church and confessed their faith in the name of Jesus. 

I once knew a young man that belonged to this same church, who used 
profane language daily. This young man died very suddenly, and the preacher 
in his sermon told us that he was a true Christian; thus teaching us that profane 
language was no evil, where the name of Jesus existed. I once knew a woman 
that was constantly fault-finding and jawing some one of her home circle, thus 
making a little hell upon earth of her own home (the worst evil that visits the 
face of the earth). The preacher and his members knew this, and laughed 
and made gossip over it. This very preacher preached her funeral sermon 
telling us that she was a true Christian; thus giving us another lesson, that 
the worst evil upon earth ceases to be evil where the church rules are com- 
plied with, and the name of Jesus appealed to. 

I once knew a man that was very evil ; he was taken sick and at last 
made up his mind that his days were numbered. A preacher made him a visit 
and prayed for his salvation. He asked if he could be baptized and the 
preacher set a day that he would baptize him, but before the day came that 
man died, and the preacher baptized the mortal body after life was gone, and 
then in his sermon he told us that that man’s evils ceased to be evil just be- 
cause he asked to be baptized in the name of Jesus. I once worked for a man 
that daily asked the blessings at his table; he used profane language con- 
stantly ; I knew him to steal a ratchet brace and hide it in a corn shock ; he 
told me that Jesus Christ stood between God and man, and that God knew 
nothing about man except what Jesus saw fit to tell God, and that Jesus 
would never let one of his dear followers suffer for anything. 

A few weeks ago this man died, and the preacher that preached his 
funeral sermon, told his congregation that he was a good Christian and had 
gone to heaven. Upon being asked if he believed that this man had gone to 
heaven, he quoted Paul’s words: “Let us not judge one another any more; 
but judge this rather, that no man put a stumbling block or an occasion to 
fall, in his brother’s way.” 

Now we see that this church that has no discipline except the Bible ( as 
well as all other churches), teaches us this same doctrine that this book 
teaches, that the preacher said belonged to the Catholic church. 

I believe that those preachers that teach the doctrine that a person can go 
on with their evils, and by saying that they are natural born sins, inbred sins, 
every-day sins and short comings, and that they cease to be evils where ‘ ‘faith 
in Jesus” exists; one that teaches the doctrine that all evil ceases to be evil 
where sin is wiped out by the “name Jesus.” I believe that such a preacher 
can gain multitudes to their church that they could not otherwise gain. Such 
a preacher gains many, but one true moralist in a church is worth a score of 
such members. 


KNOWLEDGE HAS GREATLY GROWN SINCE PAUL’S DAY. 


507 


But they tell me that “Paul supports this doctrine.” All that I can say 
to this is, that Jesus did not do His writing, He left it to men possessed of 
human frailty; If Paul gave us such a doctrine, thinking to gain multitudes, 
I believe that he gained his designs. If Paul gave us such a doctrine with 
pureness of heart, thinking that he was teaching the world perfectly right, this 
teaches me that knowledge, judgment and understanding has greatly grown 
since Paul’s day. And if knowledge, judgment and understanding has grown, 
righteousness has grown also. 

But you say that Christ gave us righteous teachings. I say precisely the 
same. But what is Christ? You say that Christ atones for all sin and evil. 
I say precisely the same, but where is Christ? If Christ dwells in your own 
bosom, then He atones for your own sins and your own evils. But, does 
Christ dwell there? Christ can’t use profane language, Christ can’t steal, 
Christ can’t make home a perfect hell upon earth; and if those things are 
practiced by you, Christ is not in your bosom, and Christ cannot atone for 
your sins and evils. Jesus has nothing to do with your atonement, and Christ 
cannot atone for you unless He dwells in you. 

But Jesus promised us that He would save us. 

That was Christ talking through the lips of Jesus. Let him talk through 
your lips and He will make the same promise to-day. 

But sometimes I cannot help saying something or doing something that 
is evil, then Christ is not dwelling in me. How can I atone for those evils? 

There is no living soul that is perfect. Your nature is grown up evil, 
crooked and bad. You can greatly improve it, but it is impossible for you to 
make your nature perfect. Mildness and pleasantness of words, and full 
practice of good morals is in imitation of Jesus; Christ dwelt in Jesus; if you 
live in imitation of Jesus, Christ will dwell in you. Though our preachers 
tell us that morality cannot purify the heart, yet I tell you that morality is 
true Christianity. Every person that practices morality as far as they can, 
and when evil forces itself upon them, if they calmly and cooly choose to do 
the least evil that is before them, that sin is atoned for. Every mother that 
says to herself that her nature is already grown crooked, evil and bad, and 
that it is hard to straighten her own nature, but she will raise her child to a 
more pleasant, mild and pure nature than that of her own, by example and 
precept, that mother has atoned for her own sins. Every father that says to 
himself, that his nature is already grown up crooked and evil, and that it is 
hard to straighten his nature, but he will try to help raise his children in a 
more mild, pleasant and pure nature than his own, by example and precept, 
that father has atoned for his own sins. Any person that will say to them- 
selves that their nature is already grown, evil and crooked, and that they will 
try to help to grow the nature of all surrounding children in more mildness, 
pleasantness and purity, than that of their own, by both example and in- 
struction, such person has atoned for their own sins. Any and all persons 
trying to improve the nature of the rising generation, in advance of their own 
nature, in mildness, pleasantness, and pureness, such persons have atoned for 


HOW ARE WE LED? 


ECS 

their own sins; yet, it is not themselves that make this atonement but the 
Christ that dwells in them makes it for them. It is Christ that atones for the 
sins of every human being, but that Christ must dwell in that human being 
as the great Christ dwells in the body of J esus ; and that Christ is nothing 
more nor nothing less than the pure mind of God. 


CHAPTER XIII. 


Preaching funeral sermons. — God withdraws nothing from man, but we, or the 
devil that is in us, withdraw from God. Is Jesus in hell for our sins? — There 
is one thing about the Bible that our preachers don’t tell us. — Three great 
faults that are false. 

This book that I have introduced is entitled “THE WORKS OF ISAAC 
AMBROSE, Revised by John Wesley.” 

We will examine some more of his statements, and my sentiments there- 
with. 

Page 74. “It is not in thy power to bring thy heart to desire Christ ; 
thou canst not hammer out a desire ; . . . . nay, let all the angels in heaven and 
all the ministers on earth provoke thee, yet if the hand of the Lord be want- 
ing thou shalt not lift up thine heart nor step one step toward heaven .... 
Lord. . . .thou only art the God of desire.” 

He says, “it is not in thy power to bring thy heart to desire Christ. ” 
To be a Christian, and to desire to be a Christian, are two different things. 
I say that it is not in your power (after your nature i3 fully grown) to change 
your nature so as to live a perfect Christian life; but it was in your mother’s 
power to cultivate your nature to the practice of good morals as Jesus prac- 
ticed them, and that is Christ. But man — that is the mind of man — is cre- 
ated perfectly free to choose for thyself whether you will serve God or mam- 
mon. If you have a desire to raise your children so that they can gain 
heaven, even though you yourself may be debarred, then you have a desire 
for Christ even though your carnal nature may overpower that desire. Yet, 
if you teach the world that mothers should raise their children to a more 
mild, pleasant, kind and positive disposition than her own is, and so bring the 
world — from generation to generation — closer to Christ, and so — from gener- 
ation to generation — bring Christ more and more into the human being, then 
you express that desire and your own sins are atoned for through Christ — 
through your own Christ. 

Page 130. “Those evils which arise from God are desertions, and for 
comforts against them consider these promises: Isa. 49:14, 15, 16 and 
54:1, 10. £ For a small moment I have forsaken thee.’ ‘ In a little wrath I 

hid my face from thee for a moment.’ — 7, 8. (God is not wrath, even 
though the Bible tells it. God is love; Satan is wrath. God never hid His 


THE DEVIL HIDES US FROM GOI)’S FACE. 


509 


face from the human being, but the devil hides us from God’s face.) Those 
evils that arise from ourselves are sins and infirmities, and they are either 
spiritual blindness, spiritual lameness or heaviness of the mind, or weak- 
ness of memory, or fears of losing God’s love, or indisposition, distraction, 
defects in our best performances, or particular falls, daily frailties and infirm- 
ities.” 

We and the Bible charge too many evils to the credit of God. God does 
no evil or withholds nothing from man or woman, but we (or the devil that 
is in us), withdraw ourselves — our own mind — from the mind of God, and so 
pass into spiritual death and commit evils that are from the devil instead of 
from God. There are but two, and there cannot be but two minds or ways: 
the mind or way of God and the mind or way of the devil, and when we are 
in the right way we are in the way of God — the mind of God — and the mind 
of God is in us. “I am in the Father and the Father is in me.” But when 
we are in the evil way (whether this evil is from “spiritual blindness,” 

‘ ‘spiritual lameness, ” or any other cause), we are in the way of the devil — 
the mind of the devil, and the mind of the devil is in us. ‘ ‘I, and the Father 
are one.” “Suffer little children to come unto me.” When the mind of the 
devil is our father— when I and the father (devil) are one, how many of us 
suffer the little children to come unto me — the mind of the devil, then. 

Page 146. “The first age of a child is its infancy, and the first part of 
its infancy is while it remaineth in the mother’s womb; here the duty lies 
principally upon the mother (I say here the duty lies wholly upon the mother), 
to have a special care of it (its mind). The next degree of a child’s infancy, is 
while it is in the swaddling-band, and remains a sucking child ; in this also 
the care more especially lies on the mother, whose duty it is to take all pains 
she possibly may for the education of her child. The second age of a child is 
its youth, from the time it begins to be of any discretion, till it be fit to be 
placed forth ; now the duty of parents at this time is, first, to nourish, and 
second, to nurture their children. If this be done, the world to come may 
reap the benefit of their education. 

Here he gives excellent advice, but his next paragraph spoils it all, by 
telling the mothers to correct their children for their sins, but not for the sins 
that are bred in the child from the mother. Christianity is where parents 
raise their children — or the nature of their children better than their own 
nature is. 

Page 147. “Let parents reprove and correct their children from sin; and 
that the Lord may sanctify this correction unto them, consider this, 0 ye 
parents ! Do you observe such and such sins in your children? Enter into 
your own hearts, examine yourselves, whether they come not from you; con- 
sider how justly the hand of God may be upon you; and when you are angry 
with your children, have a holy anger with yourselves ( when parents learn to 
punish their children without anger, there is no need of holy anger with them- 
selves, neither is there any need of looking at yourself to see if the same sin 
is in yourself ; bring the mind of your child nearer to the mind of God than 


510 


HOW ARE WE LED? 


your own mind is), “and use this or the like meditation with your own soul, 
‘Lord shall I thus punish my own sin in my child?” (Most assuredly punish 
your own sins in your child, and send your child into heaven in advance of 
yourself, and advise your daughters to follow your example). ‘ ‘Such children 
as 3 7 ou bring up, such parents will they be to their children/’ 

On page 164, in speaking of the crucifixion of Jesus, he says: “Surely this 
was a bitter ingredient in Christ’s cup. The wrath of G-od Himself. This, 
above all, was the most bitter drug; it lay in the bottom, and Christ must 
drink it also. ” 

If forty different Bibles and all the preachers on earth would tell me 
that G-od possessed wrath I would say that God is love. God never was and 
never can be wrath. The devil, and the devil alone, was wrath and is wrath. 
If forty different Bibles and all the preachers would say that Jesus offered 
Himself fora sacrifice I would say that Jesus went into the garden and prayed 
that, if God had power over His enemies that God would deliver Him from 
that death, and let that cup of death pass from him. But God nad no power 
over that band of people at that time. They were created perfectly free to 
choose for themselves whether they would serve God or the devil, and they 
had chosen to serve the devil at that time and they were out of God’s power. 
It was the devil, through the hands of his servants, that offered Jesus as a 
sacrifice, and for the devil’s own sins. Jesus was not offered as sacrifice for 
the sins of any Christian. Every Christian must offer his own sacrifice, and 
that sacrifice must be a self denial of the thing that causes that sin. 

Then what shall we do with the Bible? There is something about the 
Bible that the preachers don’t tell you. When you learn that you will better 
understand the Bible than you do to-day. 

But this writer goes on to say: “God afflicts some in mercy and some 
in anger. This was in His anger, and yet in His anger God is not alike to all. 
Some He afflicts in His more gentle and mild anger; others in His fierce anger. 
This was in the fierceness of His anger. 

Why, this writer would make us believe that God is like unto the fools 
of this earth. When one cries lynch him, guilty or not, all fools follow after 
him with the same cry, while the wise stop to consider before they lynch. 
Some cried lynch Jesus for some one else’s sins, and God, like the fools of 
the present day, got terribly angry and followed Jesus with the same cry and 
launched the innocent unto death and let the guilty go free. What a fool 
they made of God. Don’t good judgment ask the most ignorant, does this 
look reasonable? Judgment, knowledge and understanding has grown since 
this book was written. 

Page 174. “Who would die such a death for the pleasure of a little 
sin?” 

This question is as much as to say that we have not a person on earth 
to-day that would offer themselves to such a death as that for the pleasure 
of a little sin. Does good judgment teach the most ignorant that Jesus was 
more of a fool than we can find on earth to-day? He offered himself to such 


TEACH US TRUE CHRISTIANITY. 


511 


a death for the pleasure of a little sin, and let some one else have that pleas- 
ure. Our preachers go to extremes in teaching us something that we can see 
no reason in. Let them teach us true Christianity, simple Christianity, then 
infidelity will be wiped out of existence. 

Page 167. “ Now Judas should betray Christ. . . .Behold a multitude 

and Judas in the front.” 

To-day behold a great multitude of sinners, and I in the midst. I am 
the great traitor to tell you who Christ is and where you will find Him. Oh, 
what a blessed thought. I am a betrayer of the true and living Christ. Give 
me any death that you please. My intent is not treachery or false, but a 
true indication of the only Christ that there is, the only Christ that there 
ever was, the only Christ that there ever will be. Seek Him out, take Him, 
bind Him fast, enclose Him securely and hold Him constantly in your own 
bosom, as He was held in the body of Jesus. Carry Him with you through 
all ages and take Him safely into the great eternity. And I will tell you 
what He is and where you will find Him. Christ is nothing more, nothing 
less, never was anything more nor anything less, than the true mind of God. 
When Jesus had the true mind of God in Him He was truly Christ. Any 
person having the true mind of God in their own bosom is truly a Christian, 
having Christ in their own flesh. And to any sinner who is seeking Christ 
I cannot describe his place plainer than to say that the mind of God is a great 
tree of life in the garden of Eden. 

Jesus described the mind of God as a great pool of water. “ Whoso- 
ever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst, but .... 
spring up into everlasting life.” I say that God’s mind is a great tree, and 
Christ’s abiding place is the largest and highest branch in this great tree. 
Take Him into your own body and become a Christian. 

Page 195. “Indeed nothing doth so cool and refresh a parched, thirsty 
soul as the blood of Jesus.” 

What is the blood of Jesus, that is so refreshing to the parched thirsty 
soul? Our church members take a little wine, and call that the blood of 
Jesus. Some of them think if a little wine gives a little refreshment, more 
wine will give more refreshment, so they take a great deal of wine, and get 
a great deal of refreshment to their soul ; whilst others take something still 
stronger than wine to refresh their soul. Whilst the true blood of Jesus was 
wasted away on Golgotha 1866 years ago. 

I once knew a woman that prayed earnestly twice a day for the blood of 
Jesus to wash away her sins, and as soon as she was off of her knees from 
prayer, she was dealing out hellfire to her home circle, and making sins for 
che blood of Jesus to wash away. He goes on to say, “have my poor thirsty 
soul refreshed with the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.” Thus 
making Jesus and Christ all one, and the blood of Christ as the mortal blood 
of Jesus; and he then asks: “But what is there in Christ’s blood or 
death that is so desirable? (he says), I answer. There is in the person of 


512 


HOW ARE WE LED? 


Christ, he that is God-man ; the brightness of His Father’s glory, and the ex- 
press image of his person.” 

I say that Christ and God are one, but Christ was the spirit, God is the 
spirit ; Christ is the perfect image of God, but God is a spirit — mind of purity 
and love; Christ was Jesus’ spirit — mind of purity and love. 

“It is He that died ; every drop of His blood was not only the blood of 
an innocent man, but one that was God as well as man. God with His own 
blood purchased the church. ” 

He tells us that God is dead, that His own blood was taken on Golgotha, 
and God’s own blood purchased the church. 

“There is in it a worth .... No wealth in heaven or on earth besides this, 
could redeem one soul .... There is in it a merit and satisfaction. The script- 
ure doth not expressly use these words, but it hath the sense and meaning of 
them .... ‘Ye are bought with a price’. And what price was that? Why, his 
own blood.” 

He tells us over and over again that God is dead, and that He purchased 
His church with His own blood. He of course is alluding to the blood of 
Jesus, but he tells us time and again that it is the blood of God and that the 
mortal body of Jesus was God. Once he tells us that Jesus was “the express 
image of God’s person;” thus saying that God is one person of flesh, blood 
and bone, and that Jesus Christ was another person of flesh, blood and bone, 
“the express image of God’s person.” Once he says, “what is there in 
Christ’s blood?” Alluding to the blood of Jesus. 

Now I ask, what is the blood of Christ ? or what is the blood of God ? 
And I answer. Pleasant words is the blood of Christ — genteel actions are the 
blood of Christ — loving kindness is the blood of Christ. Moral teachings is 
the blood of Christ. Perfect morality in every respect is the blood of God. 
“Christ’s death and blood is superabundant to our sins.” 

They teach us that God plotted, planed and executed, the crucifixion of 
Jesus. It was his own work, then He took His own work as superabundant 
reward for our sins. Then He selected a part of us to enjoy everlasting 
happiness through the reward of His own works, leaves the remainder of us 
to be everlastingly damned, regardless of our inclination and desire to do 
right. They give us more than the human mind can swallow. 

Page 196. “Lord, I am unworthy, but it is just and right that Christ 
obtained what he died for. O pardon my sins for His death’s sake, and for 
His precious blood’s sake. ” 

How is this? he teaches us that He (Christ) is entitled to everlasting 
punishment in hell. He teaches us that Jesus has substituted to take his 
everlasting torment in hell, and that he takes Jesus’ place in heaven. If Jesus 
takes an everlasting station in hell for each church member, it will keep Him 
dodging through hell for a long time. Then again he teaches us that Jesus is 
not in hell, but stands between man and God in heaven. When he teaches us 
things that we cannot believe, he makes infidels of his pupils. Then again he 
teaches us that he is unworthy of a resting place in heaven, yet it is just and 


CHRIST IS THE MIND OF PURITY. 


513 


right that God should take such unworthy people, for no other cause only for 
Jesus’ death’s sake. I once asked some church members if they believed that 
a Lutheran would live a Christian life, knowing that they themselves would 
receive no benefit, only Martin Luther would receive a benefit? Everyone 
answered, no ! Then I asked them, is there a living person who knowing 
that they themselves would receive no reward, neither in this world nor in the 
world to come, would live a Christian life for the sake of Calvin ? and I 
received the same answer : no ! Then I asked, is there a iiving person on 
earth who would live a Christian life knowing that they themselves would 
receive no reward, would live a religious life for the sake of anyone else ? 
and the third time I received the answer, no, there is none that would live a 
religious life except they themselves were to receive some reward. 

Now I learned that there is none who will live a religious life for the 
sake of Jesus, the sake of His death or the sake of his blood. 

Then I also learn that all evil ceases to be evil if we have the right kind 
of faith, and yet though we are evil doers, and unworthy of a reward in 
heaven, yet God is bound to take us there, regardless of our evil works, for 
the sake of Jesus’ blood, and for the sake of His death. 

Page 197. “Without this blood there is no access to God. It is only by 
the blood of Christ, that heaven is open to our prayers, and that heaven is 
open to our persons.” 

This sentence is right. It is the blood of Christ that takes us to heaven. 
But what is Christ ? and where is Christ? and what is the blood of Christ? 

Christ is the mind of purity. Christ must dwell in your own body. The 
blood of Christ is the mild and pleasant right words that come from your 
own lips — the right acts that are performed by your own body — the right 
teachings that are taught by your own person, and by that ‘ ‘ Christ, ” and by 
that ‘ ‘ blood of Christ shall heaven be open to your prayers, and to your per- 
son. If the gates of heaven are ever unlocked and open to your soul, the 
keys must be turned by yourself, and whilst here on this earth. 

We will now turn to page 206, and see how he typifies Jesus Christ by a 
goat. Bemember what I say, that Christ is a mind of purity; and as Jesus 
was possessed of a mind of purity, this writer makes him a substitute for 
millions of minds of iniquity. 

“ There is no death, no hell, no condemnation to those that are in Christ 
Jesus. . . .Christ was amazed, that we might be cheered; Christ was impris- 
oned, that we might be delivered; Christ was accused that we might be 
acquitted; Christ was condemned, that we might be redeemed; Christ suffered 
his Father’s wrath that the victory might be ours.... As the scape goat 
under the law had upon his head all the iniquities of the children of Israel, 
and so was sent away by the hand of a fit man into the wilderness ; so the 
Lord Jesus, of whom that goat was a type, had all our iniquities laid upon 
his head by God his Father, and bearing them, He took them away. ‘Behold 
the Son of God, who taketh away the sins of the world. ’ He went away with 
them into the wilderness, or into the land of forgetfulness. ” 


514 


HOW ARE WE LED? 


Jesus has never taken away a sin since His crucifixion, but Christ takes 
away sins until this day. But where is Christ? He tells us that Jesus has taken 
away our sins “into the land of forgetfulness, ”, but that is not so; when you 
have stolen a horse, that sin never goes into forgetfulness. Christ may atone 
for that sin, but where will you find that Christ ? that Christ must be found 
in your own bosom, and that atonement must be recorded in the same book 
(your own mind) where the sin is recorded. 

Page 207. “For the death of Christ” (Christ is God ; Christ never died), 
.... “though the law (God’s law) be broken, yet the curse is removed. . . . 
Christ hath redeemed us from that curse.” Your Christ redeems you and 
my Christ redeems me; all the very same Christ (mind of God) but in differ- 
ent bodies. 

Jesus Christ “was made a curse for us; that is, the fruits and effects of 
God’s curse, the punishment due to sinners, the penal curse which justice 
requires, was laid upon Christ, and by this means we are free from the curse.” 

Here again he teaches us that Jesus Christ is in hell suffering our 
penalties. 

1 1 If thou hast any share in the death of Christ, thou hast two tenures to 
hold thy pardon by, mercy and justice, free grace and righteousnsss; mercy 
in respect of thee, and justice in respect of Christ. Not only his free grace 
ready to acquit thee, but a full price was laid down, to discharge thee from 
all thy sins.” 

Under this doctrine, what is there to hold a church member from any 
sins at any time? 

“How can He (God) accuse me seeing Christ is my surety; seeing the 
bond hath been used, and Jesus Christ would not leave one farthing unpaid. ” 

They teach us that Jesus came into this world as bondsman for any crime 
incident to man or woman; and that that bondsman has been taken and their 
bonds has been paid; therefore if they commit an evil, it is already settled 
for and paid up. 

On page 208. Eleven different times he tells us that Christ died, or that 
Christ is dead. Christ is nothing more or less than a righteous mind. Death 
is nothing more nor less than separation. A righteous mind was never 
separated from God’s mind, therefore Christ never dies. 

A person may change from the mind of God to the mind of the devil in 
a moment’s time, but that is no death for Christ. 

On page 209 he teaches us that we must flatteringly pray to Jesus, or 
tell Jesus how He has suffered, and then complain against ourselves, telling 
Him that we are bad people but He must forgive us. 

I say, it is for us to see in our own judgment what is wrong, and of our- 
own selves quit those wrong, as far as possible, and raise our children in a 
way that they will excel us in leaving off wrong and doing right, then we 
atone for our own evils. 

Je3us* sufferings and death has nothing to do with our doing wrong or 
right, we must attend to that ourselves. 


THE NAMES OF JESUS. 


515 


“Let us call on Jesus, or on God the Father, in and through Jesus. We 
must pray that all these transactions of Christ in His sufferings and death 
may be ours; let us tell Him what pains He hath suffered for our sake (He 
don’t know, so we must tell Him what pains He hath suffered), and let us 
complain against ourselves (here He tells us some words to pray): ‘0 what 
shall we do, who by our sins have so tormented our dearest Lord? what con- 
trition can be great enough? what tears sufficient? what hatred and detesta- 
tion equal to those sad and heavy sufferings of our Jesus?’ and then let us 
pray that He would pity us and forgive us those sins .... that He would be- 
stow on us the virtue of His death, that His wounds might heal us, His 
death might quicken us, and His blood might cleanse us from all our filth of 
sin; and lastly, that He would assure us that His death is ours; that He 
would persuade us that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, 
nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, 
nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God, 
which is Jesus Christ our Lord” 

How extremely strong he puts it onto the shoulders of Jesus Christ that 
He shall hold us so strongly that no power on earth or in heaven can separate 
us from the love of God. I myself put it as strongly onto the shoulders of 
Christ. But where must Christ dwell? Christ must be found dwelling in 
your own bosom, and must not be there one minute and absent the next min- 
ute alternate through life. 

Another very strange thing that we see is that Jesus Christ should have 
such extreme power, yet He has not power to understand our language. A 
sermon must be preached or a prayer made in the Latin language that Jesus 
may understand it. The mind of the living, which needs the instruction, can 
. not understand the words of either the sermon or the prayei . 

Page 217. “Looking unto Jesus; a title that denotes His mercy, as 
Christ denotes His office.” 

Here he looks at Jesus and Christ as one being, and tells us that the 
name Jesus denotes mercy and the name Christ denotes office. Then he goes 
on and tells us four other names for the same being, and says that the name 
“Jesus is all these.” 

“He is often called Christ, and Lord, and Mediator, ana Son of God, and 
Emmanuel, but Jesus is all these; Jesus is Christ, as He is the anointed of 
God; and Jesus is Lord, as He hath dominion over all the world; and Jesus 
is Mediator, as He is the reconciler of God and man; and Jesus is the Son of 
God, as he was eternally begotten before all worlds; and Jesus is Emmanuel, 
as He was incarnate, and so God with us. Only because J esus signifies Sav- 
iour, and this name was given him upon that very account. ” 

Here, I think he has described the name Jesus plain enough, and I think 
he has explained plain enough that that name was given to that one babe 
only, as a title of his mission. But we find another Jesus in the Bible, who 
Jived long before this one; and a righteous teacher. But when we read of this 
Jesus, our preachers tell us that it was Joshua, misspelled. When we turn to 


516 


UOW ARE WE LED? 


the books of Apocrypha we find two different men there named Jesus, who 
were righteous teachers, and righteous writers, writing scriptures. How is 
this name a title in those cases? 

We find Jesus Christ to be not less than the fourth man by the name 
Jesus, teaching righteousness. How many bore that name who were unright- 
eous, we know nothing about. I respect the name Jesus, and thank God that 
we had such a man; but I teach you that Jesus was only the earthly Taber- 
nacle that Christ dwelt in. 

He tells us that “Jesus is Mediator,” or “reconciler of God and man.” 
I tell you that Christ is mediator or reconciler of man to God , but where 
must Christ be found? 

Page 247. “In respect to us, God would rather deal with us in a cove- 
nant way, than in a more absolute supreme way .... that He might bind us 
the faster to Himself. A covenant binds on both parts. The Lord doth not 
bind Himself to us, and leave us free; no.. ..but a covenant doth, as it 
were, twist the cords of the law, and double the precept upon the soul.” 

A covenant binds us to do what? does it bind us to omit swearing? does 
it bind us to omit stealing? does it bind us to omit making home a perfect hell 
upon earth? does it bind us to omit murder? A covenant is nothing more nor 
less than a bargain, and when we go to God in prayer, and promise Him that 
we will live up to His requirements, we have made a bargain, or a covenant 
with God; but I am afraid that many of our church members feel themselves 
released from the bond of a covenant. 

On page 249 he tells us what a covenant is, both the old covenant and 
the new covenant. On page 250 he tells us how those covenants are binding 
on our part. On page 251 he tells us that faith is not mentioned in those 
covenants, but “it is very plainly intended.” So we will look at those cove- 
nants, and at the bonds on our part, and for love before Jesus was born. 

“(1) The Father enters into a covenant with us. He promised to be a 
father to us. Hence sayeth the Lord, Israel is my son , my first born. 

(2) The son is in covenant with us, and speaks to us in this language: 
Thou art mine ; I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name, and 
therefore thou art mine. This is Christ’s covenant with us.”.. ..(3) The 
Holy Ghost makes a covenant with us ... . This is the covenant that I will 
make with them. I will put my law into their hearts, and in their minds I will 
write them.... what is the condition of this covenant on our part? The 
condition of this covenant is faith in Jesus, which is implied in the promise.” 

A covenant is a bargain. He tells us, God made a covenant, Christ made 
a covenant, and the Holy Ghost made a covenant without one word on our 
side, and the bond on us is faith in Jesus. And the next thing that he tells us 
is, faith is not mentioned in those covenants. 

“ But where is faith mentioned either in promise or precept ? I answer, 
if it be not expressed, it is very plainly intended .... to go farther, what is 
the meaning of this first commandment in the affirmative part, but to have 


love: the lord thy god. 


5i7 


one God in Christ to be our God by faith ? It is true, there is no mention ot 
Christ, or faith, but that is nothing.” 

A preacher can advance any idea that he may please, and that is nothing. 

But my ideas are newer than the New Testament — outside of Christianity 

and cannot enter heaven. 

“There is no mention made of • love, and yet our Savior discovered it 
there. When the lawyer tempted Christ, Master , which is the great com- 
mandment of the lawf you know Christ’s answer Thou shalt love the Lord 
thy God with all thy heart , with all thy soul , and with all thy mind. This is 
the first and great commandment. — Matt, xxii, 36, 37, 38.. Now, as our Sav- 
ior discovers love there, so in like manner is faith and Christ there.’’ 

Now, this writer tells us that love was not mentioned in the covenant, 
but Jesus discovered it. Then he tells us that faith and Christ were not men- 
tioned in the covenant, but they also beiong there the same as love. Let us 
go back to Moses, before Jesus discovered love. 

Deut. 6:5. “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and 
with all thy soul, and with all thy might.'’ Lev 19:18. “Thou shalt love 
thy neighbor as thyself. I am the Lord." 

We find two commandments expressing love before Jesus discovered it. 

He tells us that the covenant of the Holy Ghost was to write the law in 
our heart. Let us turn to Deut. 6:6: “These words which I command this 
day shall be in thine heart. ” 

Page 252. “Moses only received the law and delivered it to the peo- 
ple, but Christ, our true Moses, fulfilled it ” 

If we fulfil the law as Jesus fulfilled it, of our own free will, we will 
truly gain abode in heaven; but if we wait for the law to compel us to fulfil 
it we may gain the gallows or an abode in prison in this world and an abode 
in hell through all eternity. 

‘ ‘ Moses had the law only writ in tables of stone, but Christ writes it in 
the tables of our hearts. ” 

Again, read Deut. 6:6. 

On page 295, in speaking of the Virgin Mary, he says: “ Never was 
mortal creature thus honored, that she should bear him that upholdeth the 
world; that flesh which was personally united to the godhead.” 

He was not upholding the evils of the world when He drove the money 
changers out of the temple. Does He uphold greater evils to-day than He 
did when He was on earth? 

Now, I have perused more than a third of this book, and I must confess 
that some of his statements that I have criticised find support in the Bible. 
But theie is one thing about the Bible that our preachers don’t tell you, and 
that is this: Moses was a man trying to teach the people to live and deal 
mildly, pleasantly and kindly with each other, and so cultivate their minds in 
happiness for others as well as for themselves, in this world as well as in the 
world to come. He wrote down good instructions for the people to follow, 
and every word that he wrote was inspired. But we must remember that the 


518 


HOW ARE WE LED? 


devil crowds every thought into the human mind that he possibly can, and, 
as Moses was a human being, possessed of humane frailty, as Moses was not 
perfect, and as judgment, knowledge and understanding were not yet fully 
developed, we cannot expect his writings to be the perfect inspiration of 
God. The very same may be said of Joshua, Judah, Samuel, Ezra, Solo- 
mon, Nehemiah, Job, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Paul, and in fact of every one of the 
New Testament writers; and outside ol the Bible, Esdras, Tobit, Judith, 
Jesus the father of Sirach and Jesus his grandson, Baruch, and the writer of 
the history of Susannah, and many others could be mentioned the same as 
Moses who were righteous people, desirous of teaching the world to cultivate 
a mild and pleasant disposition, practicing good morals in both words, works 
and teachings. They were all human beings, possessed of humane frailty; 
none were perfect; all inspired by the same God to do their writing. Yet the 
devil crowded in all the inspiration that he possibly could, so that we cannot 
say that any of their writings are perfect. 

Then we turn to the book of the Ecclesiastes, written by the preacher. 
It is generally believed that Solomon wrote this book, but not so. Solomon 
tried to be a righteous man, trying to give right teachings, while this is an 
infidelic book and void of right teachings. I believe that Adonijah wrote 
this book, as he was a son of David and older than Solomon and as he was 
greedy enough to take David’s throne before David’s death. From reading 
the first and second chapters of first Kings we would think that Solomon de- 
throned and put to death Adonijah the first day of Adonijah’s reign, but not 
so. Adonijah reigned king for a time, and during this time Solomon’s 
mother went to King David and interceded for Solomon, and David crowned 
Solomon king. Then Solomon did not put Adonijah to death, but dethroned 
him with the understanding that his life should be spared as long as ‘‘he 
will show himself a worthy man.” So that a period of time passed between 
the dethroning and the death of Adonijah. 

From the reading of the Bible we cannot tell much about the time. In 
reading the fourth chapter of Matthew, the eleventh, twelfth and thirteenth 
verses, we would suppose it to be one transaction, but when we examine the 
records we find the eleventh verse was transacted in the year thirty A. D , 
the twelfth verse in the year thirty-one A. D. , and the thirteenth verse in the 
twenty-seven A. D. So that we cannot tell the exact time. 

But in reading the book of Ecclesiastes we see that the writer said : ‘ ‘I, 

the preacher, WAS king over Israel in Jerusalem.” This shows us that Solo- 
mon did not write it. Had Solomon written it he would have said, ‘ ‘I, the 
preacher, AM king over Isreal.” Again, Solomon wrote righteous teachings; 
this is infidelic teachings, and how did it get into the Bible? 

I tell you that every word of righteous writings is inspired from God, 
and every word of profane writings is inspired from the devil. And that 
King Constantine chose from those ancient writings such as pleased him and 
bound them together and called that his Bible, and King James also took 
from those ancient writings such as pleased him and bound them together 


THREE GREAT FAULTS. 


519 


and made that his Bible. George Washington took those ancient writings 
and made them the chief corner stone of his national constitution, and left us 
to accept of them such as our preachers teach us is the Bible. 

Our preachers will not tell us this, but they tell us that ever} 7 word of 
the Bible is the inspired word of God, and that nothing outside of the Bible 
is God’s inspiration. 

We find three great faults among our people, and they are these: 

First, many will tell us that the better you try to raise a child the wilder 
that child will be when it becomes its own master, but that is a lie told by 
the sinners to justify themselves in neglecting their own children and in jus- 
tifying other children in their disobedience. It has been thus told over and 
over by such people until many — who will not use their own judgment, but 
believe what some one else tells them — try to believe and try to make others 
believe that they positively know such cases. But it is false, let it be told 
by who it may. When parents make their children mind on Sunday, or at 
particular times, and the balance of the time let the child go where it may 
please and when it may please, such a child may get good training at home, 
but most of the time its infant mind is getting evil instructions, when they 
are pretending to raise them right. 

Second, another evil is, many of our people (and literate people at that) 
will tell us that whisky is a necessity for health. This is also taught to the 
ignorant who will not trust their own judgment, but must take the deceiver’s 
word and so believe, and even mothers will teach their children from their 
very birth that they must have a dose of whisky every time that they feel 
bad, and even when they get mad and cry they must have whisky. Then 
those very mothers cry over their children’s drunken immoralities. Good 
sound judgment teaches us that anything that benumbs the brain, the vital 
portion of the body, must be injurious to the health. Therefore I say that 
such teachings are false, let them be taught by whom they may. 

Third, our preachers tell us that we have a spirit that is in a bodily form, 
like unto our mortal body, and if we baptize the mortal body and possess 
faith in Jesus Christ, according to their discipline, He will keep that spirit 
clean for us, and when we are through with this world He will take that spirit 
into heaven for us. They teach us that such is Christianity, and that our 
hearts are blackened with the sins of Adam, and that nothing but such Chris- 
tianity will cleanse the heart. 

Good judgment teaches me that Christ was a perfect moralist in word, 
works and teachings, and as the word Christianity was not adopted until ten 
years after Jesus was crucified, good judgment teaches me that if we follow 
Christ’s example in both words, works and teachings we are Christians. 
They teach us that all the good morals that we can possibly practice will 
not cleanse the human heart so as to make us Christians or permit us to entet 
into heaven. This is false, regardless of who teaches it. 

Those things teach parents to let their children go to every concert, pup- 
pet show, dance, social or spree of any kind. It teaches parents to make 


520 


HOW ARE WE LED? 


their children free commoners to every spree that comes along, and not only 
free commoners to every spree, but they teach mothers to turn their boys 
and girls right out together to go where they please and come back when 
they get ready. And if the father asks them where they have been or where 
they are going, he is meddling with what is none of his business, and often- 
times the mother will tell him that it is none of his business where her chil- 
dren go. At the ages of ten, twelve or fifteen years our girls and boys are 
turned out together to go where they please, do what they please and come 
home when they please, and if they take something along to drink for their 
stomach’s sake it is a necessity for health, and after they have filled them- 
selves with this necessity for health there is nothing too evil for them to do. 
All that they have got to do is to shun civil law and common gossip. Some 
parents who are pretending to raise their girls and boys to Christianity per- 
mit them to go out of their sight to do their evils, and drunkards, sinners 
and preachers teach us that those things are necessary in order to have some- 
thing to repent of — “Except ye repent,” — and they tell us that “all work 
and no play makes Jack a dull boy. ” But they don’t tell us that ‘ ‘all play 
and no work makes Sail a perfect flirt. ” Those teachings are lies, regardless 
of who teaches them. 

They tell me that those things must be done in order to have something 
to repent of, and then quote the words of Jesus, and ask me what will I do 
with that? “Except ye repent ye shall all likewise perish.” “How can a 
person repent and shun this perishing except they have done something to 
repent of?” I say, don’t give me a few of Jesus’ words and leave the rest of 
the sentence in the dark; give me the whole of Jesus’ sermon and then I will 
tell you what I will do with that. Jesus also said, “ I came not to call the 
righteous (those that were practicing good morals the same as himself), but 
sinners to repentance. ” This shows that we don’t have to do evil to have 
something to repent of. He does not ask those to repent who have noth- 
ing to repent of. “Suffer little children to come unto me,” and raise them 
that way. Mothers cannot watch their children too close, mothers cannot 
keep their children from bad company too much, mothers cannot raise their 
children too virtuous in every respect for the good of that child. 


CHAPTER XIV. 

THE TRUTH SEEKER. 

Again I meet my friend the infidel, who now hands me a little book 
entitled “Old Testament Stories Comically Illustrated,” by “The Truth 
Seeker Company.” 

This book is an outrage on the Bible. But we will sketch its contents 
and reflect upon what it says. 

Whilst looking over this book I will allow that the Bible is a fraud, 


infidel’s questions. 


521 


falsely gotten up by man and not an inspiration from God. Though I have 
previously said that every thought that enters the human head is an inspira- 
tion; if that thought is for good, it is an inspiration from God; if it is for 
evil, it is an inspiration from the devil. But to please the infidel whilst 
sketching his book I will allow that the Bible is composed of lies. 

Before opening this book, as I may want to refer to a preachers remarks, 
I will say here that Rev. S — in preaching W. P’s. funeral sermon on the 10th of 
October, 1899, A. D. , remarked: ‘ ‘ I believe that Brother P. has gone to heaven, 
for the reason that he confessed to me that Jesus Christ was the true Son 
of God. As for myself I know that I shall go to heaven, for I know that 
Jesus Christ was the true Son of God.” 

In this remark Rev. S — virtuously states to us that principally all that 
we have to do in this world is to believe in Jesus Christ, then Jesus Christ 
will do the rest in taking us to heaven. And he further remarked in this ser- 
mon that, ‘ ‘ It makes no difference what a person does, or has done, if before 
they die they repent and be baptized, and confess that Jesus Christ was the 
true Son of God, they shall be saved.” 

Now I ask, what more can the infidel, or bis writings do to carry us into 
heathenism than this preacher’s remarks will do? What is heathenism but 
hellish words and works ? and this preacher teaches the young that there is 
nothing too mean for them to say and do, all that they have got to watch 
for is to shun civil law in any way that they can plan to do so, and then 
before they die, repent;, be baptised, and confess that Jesus Christ was the 
true Son of God. 

Let me ask, Wherein does such teachings bring any improvement to 
civilization? 

infidel’s questions. 

Infidel. — “Why do you think that thoughts are inspirations?” 

C. H. — “Reason and good judgment teach me so.” 

Inf. — “Why do you think that it is God that inspires man?” 

C. H. — “Do you think that God is a bigger fool than man?” 

Inf. — “No, I can’t think that.” 

C. H. — “Would man plant, cultivate and raise a field of corn just to look 
at, then let it go back into the ground without any compensation whatever to 
himself, and repeat it year after year?” 

Inf. — “No, certainly not.” 

C. H. — “The mind of man plans and plots to his own interest to bring 
compensation to himself in some way — every bit of work that he does. Is 
the mind of God more foolish than the mind of man, that He should do all of 
His great work without compensation?” 

Inf. — “Any person would say no to that.” 

C. H. — “Then if God has a compensation, what be His compensation, 
except it be the mind of man; which was created in the image of the 
mind of God?” 


522 


HOW ARE WE LED? 


Inf. — “Your logic is the best that I ever heard; it looks to reason that 
there is something.” 

C. H. — “Then if the mind of man is the compensation in which God is 
rewarded for His great work; wherein is God rewarded, except the mind of 
man be cultivated in pure Godliness? And as the devil also influences the 
human being; and as man is left perfectly free to chose for himself whether 
he be influenced by God or by the devil, how has God any power to bring the 
human being into Godliness, except through influencing the mind by Godly 
inspiration?” 

Inf. — “And how do you distinguish the inspiration of God from the in- 
spiration of the devil?” 

C. H. — God is good — is righteous in every spot and place; His inspira- 
tions are for good — for morality in every word or work. The devil is cor- 
ruption and degradation, his inspirations lead into a degraded state of 
the mind. ” 

Inf. — “Did you ever have an inspiration from God?” 

C. H. — “I know that I saw Jesus Christ twice, then something told me 
to interview the New Testament; and I immediately went at it. Never before 
that had such a thought entered my mind.” 

Inf. — “But may be that was an inspiration from the devil.” 

C. H. — “God is good. I interviewed the New Testament with good 
intent, with intent to bring the human mind more and more into morality. ” 

Inf. — “May be it was Jesus Christ that told you to interview the New 
Testament.” 

C. H. — “Christ was God; the mind of Jesus was Christ, and Christ 
is God.” 

Inf. — “Do you believe that it is right to educate the people to believe 
that there is such a place as hell?” 

C. H. — “If there is a hereafter there must be a heaven and a hell, that 
is, a happiness and an unhappiness, and I believe it right to educate the peo- 
ple to prepare themselves for that happiness. ” 

Inf. — “But sdme claim that education is Christianity.” 

C. H. — “Literary education may increase Christianity, or it may increase 
devilishness. Education is left perfectly free to sway to the works of God, or 
to sway to the works of the devil. But if there be no hereafter, education is 
a curse to the human being, and ignorance is a bliss. The most ignorant 
heathen knows no sorrow, or has no care; and if there be no hereafter it cer- 
tainly is a curse to enlighten them and fill their bosom with sorrow and care.” 

Inf. — “Then what would you do with this compulsory education law?” 

C. H. — “That law compels the parents to better prepare their children 
for good Christian work, or for heathenism, just as the tide may wave. If our 
law makers would pass a law compelling mothers to raise their children to 
strict obedience to the word of mother, father, teacher and guide ; they would 
improve the morals of our country a great deal faster than they can improve 
our morals by compelling parents to send their children to school. 


KILL THE SMALL WEEDS. 


593 

Let us make a law, that where infants under the age of ten years are found 
using profane language, or indulging in disobeying the commands of mother, 
father or school teacher, for the first offense the mother shall be fined, and for 
every offense thereafter the mother shall be imprisoned in the county jail. The 
father would have to pay the fine and go without a house keeper whilst the 
mother is in jail; this would bring punishment to both father and mother, then 
both would try to raise their children in good morals. For such an offense 
of children over ten years old imprison the child.” 

Inf. — “That would be a hard law.” 

C. H. — Is it not a hard law to compel parents to take their children to 
school when the school is so far and the weather is so cold that the children 
can’t go alone, and when those parents are in such circumstances that it takes 
their whole time to provide board and clothes for those children? Is it not a 
hard law that will take your child from you at the age of eighteen, twenty or 
twenty-five years old, or older, and take that child to prison for life, or take 
him to the gallows? Is not every law that we have, compelling people to do 
right, hard laws? Let us make hard laws to cultivate the little pure mind, 
and do away with the need of hard laws in later years. With hard w r ork plow 
the little weeds out of your corn whilst they are small, and do awa}^ with the 
need of cutting down the large weeds.” 

Inf. — <‘But you want to make old folks of the little children. Children 
like some amusement.” 

C. H. — “I know that is a great cry among the sinners, the same as the 
saying that the stricter parents are with children the wilder those children 
are when they grow up. This is actually false, but some will tell it over 
and over again until they themselves seem to believe that it is as they tell it.” 

Inf. — “I have heard of people telling a lie over and over until they 
themselves believed it to be the truth.” 

C. H. — “That seems to be the case with some that repeat those old 
falsehoods. But remember that ‘the mind is all that makes us man;’ the 
infant mind is the mind of ignorance, the aged mind is a mind of knowledge. 
I should think that you fellows who so much fear to make old men and 
women of your children, would hesitate in schooling them. Literary culti- 
vation of the mind makes your boys and girte old men and women in all kind 
of degradation and crime, as it does in righteousness; whilst the cultivation 
of the infant mind in morality cannot make your children old men and women 
in crime and iniquity. I admit that the cultivation of the infant mind makes 
old men and women of our children, but the most ignorant people that we 
have are the ones to kick against making our children better men and women 
than we ourselves are. ” 

Inf. “But what about the book I gave you, what do you think of that?” 

C. H. — “That book is one of the greatest lying and deceiving books 
ever printed. It could not express lies in words big enough to suit, so it had 
to picture them out. ” 

Inf. — “What has it lied about?” 


524 


HOW ARE Wl-I LET)? 


C. H. — ‘‘When we open to the picture of Adam with the goat harnessed 
and hitched round the hog’s neck and Adam holding the hogs hind feet up so 
as to plow the ground with the hog’s nose, that was as great a lie as could be 
toldj and put out in such a way that the observer never can forget it. When 
we open to the picture of the hand of God taking Enoch up into heaven by 
the seat of the breeches — when we open to the picture of Abraham playing 
cards, and the monkey sitting behind him stealing out and handing him the 
cards to play — when we open to the picture of the hand of God reaching 
down and taking the liquors up into heaven ; when we open to those pictures 
they tell us an extreme lie, and they tell us in such a way that we can never 
forget them ; in fact every picture in the book is intended to decoy the human 
mind into heathenism. ” 

Inf. —The pictures are novelties but the print is all right, and novels are 
interesting and instructive to the young mind. 

C. H. — Novel reading is interesting, but what did those murderers (that 
were arrested last Saturday night) say about reading novels? 

“Richard Hoeneck and Herman Hundhausen, who were late Saturday 
night arrested. . . .made sworn confessions to the murder of Walter F. Koel- 
ler, a former schoolmate .... Both prisoners admit their ideas of adventure 
were inspired by reading dime novels, several of which, together with revolv- 
ers, bowie knives and obscene pictures, were found in their valises. ” 

Literature which was “instructive and interesting” to those young minds 
has made old men in crime of those boys. 

But we will look a little at the reading of this book. 

The most deceitful feature about this book is its title. “Old Testa- 
ment Stories Comically Illustrated by the Truth Seeker Company.” 
Remember, “ The Truth Seeker Company .” This title causes every young 
reader, and most of the old readers, to believe that they are getting the truth, 
when not so. But remember, they are the truth seeker, not the truth giver. 
They want everybody and every thing to give them the truth , while, on the 
other hand, they give us this novel filled with lies, and what is worse, lies of 
the very worst kind. They are treating of the Old Testament, and begin at 
the beginning of Genesis. But we will begin at their 34th page : 

‘ ‘ The truth of the matter is that .... in the creation story and all the 
legends of which we have so far spoken we have discovered the work of two 
writers, the first of whom speaks of the supreme being under the name of 
‘God, ’ and gives us the first account of the creation and the family register 
of Adam down to Noah, while the second uses the name ‘Yahweh,’ though 
translators have rendered both [names] alike — and gives us the story of 
paradise and the account of the Cainites. It is natural to ask, therefore, 
from which of these writers the story of the flood is derived.” 

Here this “Truth Seeker Company” denies the truth of the Bible be- 
cause they think that the story was written by two persons, who called the 
great over ruling power by two different names. And he goes on to say : 

“In the three chapters which contain this story there are two documents 


THE TRUTH 8EEKER COMPANY. 


5^5 


mixed up together, and though we can sometimes distinguish the style and 
the peculiar ideas of the former writers, it is at other times very hard to say 
whether we have either of the two before us, rather than some third writer.” 

This “Truth Seeker Company” is so scrupulous that it is hard for them 
to tell how many there were writing the book of Genesis. And this truthful 
company says : 

“For the most part they quite agree with each other, and consequently 
the story is not free from repetitions (that is, a thing is frequently repeated), 
but here and there the accounts are unmistakably contradictory.” 

This book says of the Bible that here and there are accounts that are 
contradictory. That means that the Bible does not tell a straight story, so 
we will turn to their 56th page to find them treating of a war in Sodom and 
Gomorrah and look for those contradictions. 

This book often speaks of the Old Testament men as being friends of 
God, and tells wherein the friends of God have done something wrong. Here 
he speaks of Abraham as ‘ ‘our reverend friend .... settled with his kinsman 
Lot. One of these worthies being a friend of God and what God called a 
perfect man, and the other being at least a friend of God and therefore pre- 
sumably of a character pleasing to that deity, they found it impossible to 
dwell together without quarreling and were forced to part.” 

Abraham and Lot had quarreled and separated, and this “Truth Seeker 
Company” thinks that the Bible has lied in calling them righteous men, for 
righteous men ought to be so perfect that they cannot quarrel. He does not 
stop to think that at that time the world was in perfect heathenism, and that 
it was impossible for the best of people to step out of perfect heathenism 
into perfect righteousness. Besides that, the devil was ruling, and if God 
had inspired one with perfection — one who could have written the Bible per- 
fect — that one would have been massacreed a thousand times if possible. 

Any one with the least judgment ought to know that no person could 
step out of dense heathenism into perfection. When we look back thousands 
of years to the days of Abraham, when we see that from that time to this we 
have been progressing step by step from heathenism toward righteousness, 
and when we see how far we yet are from perfection, we ought to praise 
those men and women that took the first step, even though we look back over 
their imperfect records. When we look back at those that have been slain 
for taking advanced steps, Jesus taking the greatest step that wms ever taken 
at one time, and how quick they crucified him and the apostles that followed 
after him. When we look back through the dark ages and see that every one 
that took an advanced step was burned at the stake or put to death otherwise, 
we ought to remember that it is impossible for God to inspire a person with 
perfection and the heathens of this world permit that person to live to accom- 
plish his work. Had Abraham taken a more perfect step he would have been 
slain. Had Moses been more perfectly inspired he would not have lived as 
long as he did. Jesus was more perfectly inspired but was not permitted to 
accomplish His work. 


526 


HOW ARE WE LED? 


When we look at all those things, and when we look at our own stand- 
ing in this world in advance of the heathenism of those days, we ourselves 
ought to look back and praise and thank those people that took the first step 
toward righteousness and wrote the first pages of the Bible, regardless of 
faults and errors. 

But this book goes on to say that some years after Lot and Abraham 
had separated “Lot got into trouble with enemies, and his relative (Ybra- 
ham) forgave him sufficiently to come to his rescue. Hereupon was fought a 
battle without parallel in profane history. ” 

Now he tells us that those records are not found in profane history. 
They only find those records in the Bible, and they are giving us those records 
from the Bible. Look at this. They tell us that “Lot was a friend of God, 
and what God called a perfect man.” They further tell us that they have no 
profane history to teach them, but only the Bible. Then they tell us that 
Lot got into trouble with his enemies. The Bible does not tell us a word to 
that effect. The Bible tells us that the kings had trouble, not Lot. THE 
TRUTH SEEKER COMPANY is giving us a lie. 

Admitting that the Bible lies, we must also admit that the TRUTH 
SEEKERS lie, and what is it for? But they go on to tell us that in the war 
between those kings ‘ ‘Abraham, with three hundred and eighteen servants, 
routed a king of Persia, a king of Pontus, the king of Babylon and the king 
of nations.” They do not speak of any others interested. The Bible tells 
us that those kings went out and fought with five other kings before Abra- 
ham took a hand in it. Besides that, the kings of those days were as kings 
in America three hundred years ago. If they had a tribe of fifty, of a hun- 
dred or of a thousand people or more they were king over that tribe, great or 
small. Our American tribes were the same, great or small, and some of 
them were pretty small, but they had their king just the same. We call 
them chiefs, but they are kings of their tribes just the same. Those kings 
in the Bible were probabty kings of small tribes, and probably well fatigued 
from fighting those other kings before Abraham pursued them. 

But the next thing that our “Truth Seeker” gives us is: 

“To grace the final victory in this contest, the king of Sodom, who had 
been killed in one of the early encounters (Gen. xiv, 10), now came to life 
and met Abraham as though nothing had happened to him to congratulate 
him on his conquest. (Gen. xiv, 10-12.) Such at least is the plain reading 
of the Scripture.” 

Now, our “Truth Seeker” ought to know that the Bible does not spell 
“king” with “s” for the last letter; but for the plural it puts on the letter 
“s. ” And when we read the two first verses of this chapter that our “Truth 
Seeker” has quoted from we learn that there were five kings joined together 
in the contest at Sodom and Gomorrah. And in the verse that the ‘ ‘Truth 
Seeker” quotes the Bible makes it plural by adding the letter “s,” and it 
reads, “The kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled , and fell.” It does not say 
that they all fell, but that they fled and fell there. And it further says that 


LIES OF THE TRUTH SEEKER. 


527 


“they that remained fled to the mountain, ” and the seventeenth verse says 
“the king of Sodom, ” not the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah, but the one 
king that remained and fled to the mountain, went out to meet Abraham. 

Now, the “Truth Seeker” ought to know, or at least its readers ought to 
know, whether the Bible says “king” or “kings.” The fact is that the read- 
ers read the “Truth Seeker” and think that they are getting the truth, and 
they never look in the Bible to see what it does say. I admit that the Bible 
has lied, but not here. I further affirm that the “Truth Seeker” has lied, and 
what were those lies for? 

Their next argument is: “ If it be suggested that perhaps the king of 
this latter text be a newly installed one, the remark is called for that such 
gaps of narrative as this would indicate must upset the whole conception of 
the Bible as an understandable and a safe guide. ” 

They have fraudulently made this gap. Yet I admit that the Bible 
makes such gaps, but it was written when language was weak and frail. 
Our language has wonderfully grown since the Bible was written. We must 
not expect the Bible to be as complete in our language as a book written in 
our present day ; yet we are far from being perfect. 

On page 64 the “Truth Seeker remarks: 

“In the language of the Bible, ‘God tempted Abraham.’ To be sure, 
James 1 :13 avers quite to the contrary, that God tempts no man.” 

I, as James, aver that God tempts no person. God is good, continually 
trying to lead the human mind into good morals, in both words and works. 
The devil is deceitful, continually trying to lead the human mind into some 
evil and then trying to deceive us to believe that we are tempted by God. 
This is the case with us to-day, and was the case with the old Bible writers. 
The devil tempted them into many evils and told them if was God that was 
tempting them, and because they were deceived by the devil, and wrote down 
so many things that would have been better written elsewhere, shall we curse 
them when we, with so much greater advantages than they had, are still so 
deep in heathenism? 

“In the language of the Bible, ‘God did tempt Abraham, ’ though James 
1 :13 avers quite the contrary, that God tempts no man. Yet the example of 
hosts of Christians proves to us that there need be no difficulty in believing 
two contradictory statements at the same time. That is, in case they are in 
the Holy Scripture.” 

It appears that the “Truth Seeker Company” seems to think that every 
word that is found between the lids of the Bible are Scripture, and Webster 
upholds them in that idea. But Webster was a mortal man, and not perfect, 
so they don’t know the full meaning of the word scripture. The word script 
means writing, whether written by hand or printed with a certain kind of 
type. Man-u -script is writing written by the human hand only, and /Script- 
ure is writing or print that is intended to lead the human mind into the mor- 
ality that Jesus practiced, whether it be found between the lids of the Bible 
or elsewhere. 


528 


HOW ARE WE LED? 


I wrote my manuscry:>£ and sent it to the press. The printer copied my 
script and gave it to the world. May the world accept it as Scripture. 

They next say that — 

‘ ‘The crony of God did not pass through the preparatory stages of the 
sacrifice without ornamenting them with a few of the little lies which we find 
so plentiful in the records of his class. He said to his young men, ‘Abide ye 
here with the ass ; and I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come 
again to you.’ Yet he did not expect the lad to return with him. When 
Isaac asked, ‘Where is the lamb for a burnt offering?’ his father replied, 
‘My son, God will provide himself a lamb for the burnt offering. ’ ” 

Again the “Truth Seeker” tells us that Abraham ornamented the pre- 
paratory stages of the sacrifice with a few lies. When we turn to his 29 th 
page and see a picture of Abraham playing cards and a monkey sitting be- 
hind him stealing cards and handing them to him, are not those ‘ ‘Truth 
Seekers” ornamenting their tale with a few lies? And again I ask, what are 
they for ? 

In speaking of Joseph being cast into the pit they remark: 

‘ ‘But it is when we strike the next event that we must recoil in failure 
and vexation .... Gen. 37: 25-28 reads: ‘A company of Ishmaelites came 
from Gilead with their camels. . . .And Judah said to his brethren, Come, and 
let us sell him to the Ishmaelites .... and his brethren were content. Then 
there passed by Midianites, merchant men, and they drew and lifted up Jo- 
seph out of the pit and sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of 
silver: and they brought Joseph into Egypt.’ Who can make head or tail 
of this? Who drew up Joseph? Who sold him?” 

What will the “Truth Seeker” make of this? Because frailty has spoken 
of the Midianites merchantmen. Because perfection has not plainly told us 
just who it was that drew up Joseph and sold him, they tell us that the Bible 
lies. In this place the Bible does not plainly say that Joseph’s brethren sold 
him, but it says that the Ishmaelites and the Midianites came about together 
and must have been interested together in buying him. The Ishmaelites 
bought him at the pit, “and the Midianites sold him into Egypt. ’’They have 
picked a very weak point on which to say that the Bible has lied ; but those 
who never look into the Bible will take it all in, and believe it. As they go 
on to say: 

‘ ‘It is on such confused passages as this that millions have believed .... 
For it is not merely the historical portions of the Bible that lie in such a 
strange jumble, but likewise those passages of supposed fearful import to the 
everlasting beatitude or perdition of man. ” 

Now they have gone into the everlasting world and tell us that the Bible 
lies about that; the fact is, they truly know less about the future life than 
they do about the past, and when we have. both, the Bible and their book in 
our hand, and when we see where they have accused the Bible of lying when 
we can plainly see that the lie is in their own book, when they have accused 
the Bible of lying where they acknowledge that they can find no profane 


MORE OF TRUTH SEEKER'S IMBECILITY. 


529 


•ecords to sustain them , is there a reader on earth that will believe their 
words when they speak of the future? Yes, their title, “The Truth Seeker 
Company” will deceive many, thousands will believe their book just because 
they are seekers of the truth, not givers of the truth. 

As I have so many times asked without an answer, and so many times 
shown that the lie is in their book instead of the Bible, I again ask what are 
those lies told for? 

Again they tell us that the Bible contradicts itself, where the children of 
Israel are crossing the Bed Sea. Bemember they are a “truth seeking com- 
pany,” but we will see how they except the truth. 

“Space fails us for recounting all the contradictions of this infallible 
record. According to one legend, Israel went out ‘with uplifted hands,’ 
that is in our military language, with ‘flying colors’ (Exo. XIV, 8). Accord- 
ing to the other (story), they fled; and when they saw Pharaoh’s troops draw- 
ing near they were greatly terrified, until Moses quieted their fears (Exo. 
XIY, 10-14). ” 

Exo. XIY, 8-14, reads thus: “And the children of Israel went out with 
a high hand. But the Egyptians pursued after them, all the horses and 
chariots of Pharaoh, and his horseman, and his army and over took them 
encamped by the sea, beside Pihahiroth, before baalzephon. And when 
Pharaoh drew nigh, the children of Israel lifted up their eyes and beheld the 
Egyptians marching after them, and they were sore afraid: and the children 
of Israel cried out unto the Lord. And they said unto Moses, because there 
were no graves in Egypt, hast thou taken us away to die in the wilderness? 
wherefore hast thou dealt thus with us, to carry us forth out of Egypt? Is 
not this the word that we did tell thee in Egypt, saying let us alone, that we 
may serve the Egyptians? For it had been better for us to serve the Egyp- 
tians, than that we should die in the wilderness. And Moses said unto the 
people: Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which He 
will show to you to-day : for the Egyptians whom ye have seen to-day, ye 
shall see them again no more forever. The Lord shall fight for you, and ye 
shall hold your peace. ” 

Now I see no two stories or contradiction here, and I ask every reason- 
able thinker to read and think, in the eighth verse, ‘ ‘the children of Israel 
went out with a high hand,” that is, they went out rejoicing, ‘just as people of 
our present day would do, following nature. They marched to and camped 
on the shore of the Bed Sea, rejoicing just as the people of our present day 
would do, following nature. Then they looked back and saw the army pursu- 
ing them, and their rejoicing turned to fretfulness, just as the people of our 
present day would turn, under the same circumstances, following nature. So 
we find no contradiction here, and but one story. But in the next seven 
verses of this same chapter “The Truth Seeker” again finds two stories 
and a contradiction. 

Thus, “One story makes a strong east wind dry the sea (Ex. XIY, 21): 
the other savs that Moses dried it with a wave of his magic staff 
(Ex. XIV, 15-18).” 


530 


HOW ARE WE LED? 


As it has been the understanding from the beginning, that Moses raised 
the rod and God wrought the miracles, and in this case it begins with ‘ ‘the 
Lord” telling Moses what to do. 

“And the Lord said unto Moses, Wherefore criest thou unto me? speak 
unto the children of Israel, that they go forward: “But” lift thou up thy 
rod, and stretch out thine hand over the sea, and divide it: and the children 
of Israel shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea. And behold 
I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians, and they shall follow them : and I 
will get me honor upon Pharaoh, and upon all his host, upon his chariots, and 
upon his horsemen. And the angel of God, which went before the camp of 
Israel, removed and went behind them; and the pillow of the cloud went 
from before their face, and stood behind them. And it came between the 
camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel; and it was a cloud and dark- 
ness to them, but it gave light by night to these; so that the one came not 
near the other all the night.” 

The past six verses have told us what God told Moses to do, and what 
the cloud done ; and the next verse tells us what Moses did do, and what 
God done. 

“And Moses stretched out his hands over the sea; and the Lord caused 
the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea 
dry land, and the waters were divided,” 

Their one story that tells us that Moses dried the sea with a wave of his 
staff, does not say so. It says that God told Moses what to do, but it does 
not say that Moses did it. But when we come to their other story, the 
twenty-first verse of this chapter, it says that MoSes stretched out his hand 
over the sea, and the Lord caused the sea to go back. I can see no two 
stories, nor contradiction here. But the Truth Seeker further says, that: 

“Ex XIV. says that the waters of the Bed Sea were miraculously parted 
to give the Hebrews passage. This Bed Sea is subject to a violent ebb and 
flow of tide, and a little north of Suez it is possible to wade across the gulf 
at low water, not indeed dry footed, but yet without danger.” 

If that tide was at that time subject to ebb and flow according to nature, 
it was God that made that nature, therefore it was God that parted the water 
just as the Bible says. If the Hebrews did not know that that tide was sub- 
ject to ebb and flow ( and it appears that the Egyptians did not know it, if 
they had known they would not have been caught), they were perfectly justi- 
fiable in saying that the waters were miraculously parted. 

As for wading across, not dry footed, perhaps the Truth Seeker has not 
thought that that ebb and flow of the tide has been running the water back 
and forth across there for 3,390 years since the Hebrews crossed there, it 
may have cut the channel deeper than it was at that time. Again the Truth 
Seeker may not have thought that, if that tide was subject to ebb and flow, 
at that time when the tide began to ebb the east wind began to blow also, and 
the natural ebb and the east wind together might have made that ground 
dryer at that time than it was when the Truth Seeker saw it. I see no lie 


THE LIE RESTS UPON THE TRUTH SEEKER. 


531 


here, and as civil law, where there is a doubt, gives the defendant the benefit 
of that doubt, I must give the Bible the benefit of this doubt, and say that 
the lie rests upon the Truth Seeker. 

Again the Truth Seeker finds two stories and a contradiction in the next 
chapter, and says of their singing: 

‘ ‘According to the one story the hymn of triumph was sung by Moses’ 
sister, Miriam the prophetess, who led the girls in the festal dance, timbrel 
in hand, and was the first to raise the alternating or responsive song 
(Ex. XV. 20, 21); the other (story) puts into the mouth of Moses and all 
Israel an elaborate song of praise (Ex. XV) which could not possibly have 
been composed until sometime after the passage of the Red Sea. ” 

Now their one story tells us that Moses and all Israel sang this song; 
here they have added the word “all,” where is the lie this time, and what is 
the lie for? The first line of this chapter says that, “Then sang Moses and 
the children of Israel,” but it does not say all of the children; again it took 
women as well as men to constitute the children of Israel. With the exception 
of this line the first nineteen verses of this chapter are wholly occupied in tell- 
ing what they sang, but does not again speak of who sang, until we come to 
the twentieth verse; this verse affirms that the children of Israel did sing, and 
that the women sang, and that Moses’ sister (Aaron’s sister), led the women 
in singing. ‘ ‘And Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a timbrel 
in her hand, and all the women went out after her with timbrels and with 
dances. And Miriam answered them, sing ye to the Lord, for he hath 
triumphed gloriously ; the horse and his rider hath He thrown into the sea.” 

I see no two stories, or any contradiction in this chapter. ‘ ‘The Truth 
Seeker Company” must have strained themselves in seeking two stories and 
contradictions in the Bible. I believe that I could cover all stories and lies 
of the Bible with less words than they have on one page of their book, just 
by saying that we are all human beings subject to human frailty, faults and 
errs, and that the people of early days were far more frail than we are, why 
should we expect them to give us perfect writings. But they further say 
that this song “could not possibly have been composed until some time alter 
the passage of the Red Sea, since it speaks of the conquest of Canaan as of 
something already accomplished (Ex. XV., 13).” 

Now the “Truth Seeker” proves by the thirteenth verse of this song that 
it could not have been written until after they reached Canaan. Let us ex- 
amine the weight of his proof. I composed a song when I was a boy, over 
thirty-five years ago. I have sung it a great many times, and have changed 
words in it, and I never wrote it down until after I began writing my book, 
yet it is the same song that I composed when a boy. Again, we have people 
to-day who will meet with us and sing with us, and keep a word or two be- 
hind, and skip a note or two in the tune, and we make a laughing stock of 
them. Why? Because they show imperfection. Does not the rhyme 
of Moses’ song show as great imperfection in their leaders as we have in our 
inferiors? When we look back and see where they stood in their darkness of 


532 


HOW ARE WE LED? 


mind, and when we see the step after step that has since been taken, and 
when we see where we stand in the light of God to-day, we ought to praise 
them for taking the first step. They started without anything but the mind 
of God to lead them; they wrote the Bible without anything but the mind of 
God to guide them, and the mind of the devil put in all that he possibly 
could to deceive them and defile their writings. They wrote the Bible with- 
out one particle of foundation except the mind of God, and that being con- 
tinually compressed by the mind of the devil. We ought to hold the Bible 
the most sacred of any book that was ever written. Admitting it to be com- 
posed of lies, admitting it to be written by men for money only, it is the 
most sacred book ever written because it was written without any light, any 
foundation, any foresight except the mind of God. 

To-day it of itself makes a foundation for all things. It makes a foun- 
dation for every book that is written. It makes a foundation for every step 
that is taken. It makes a foundation for every oath that is taken. There 
is not a law passed requesting an oath or an act of honor that is not founded 
upon the Bible. We could not hold an officer to one single act if he did not 
first take an oath based on the Bible. There is not a secret lodge of brethren 
but what is held together by an oath deriven from the bible. The Bible is a 
foundation for all things: even this little book entitled “The Truth Seeker, ’’the 
vilest book on the face of the earth, would be entirely without foundation 
were it not for the Bible. The Bible is the most sacred book on earth to 
uphold the good moral works that Jesus practiced; the good moral language 
that Jesus used; the good moral teachings that Jesus advised. It is the 
whole sole foundation of our country and our nation. In the Old Testament 
there are twenty-eight different commands commanding us, “thou shalt 
be led to the practice of good morals.” If I were endowed with the 
power of law-making, I would make it as much of a treason to attack 
the Bible as this book has attacked it, as it is to attack the constitution 
of our nation. If there is no crime in attacking the foundation of our 
national constitution, there can be no crime in attacking the constitu- 
tion itself. If I were endowed with this power, I would add three more com- 
mands to the twenty-eight commands found in the Bible. First: Thou shalt 
not write, print, or teach otherwise, anything to demur the truth and 
veracity of the Bible. Second: Mothers, thou shalt raise thy children to 
obedience and morality at home, before sending them to school to be culti- 
vated by a teacher. Third: Thou shalt not use thy tongue as an instrument 
to deal out hellfire in thy home circle, or in every day labor. 

Those commands together with the twenty-eight commands found in the 
Bible should be placed in civil law (many of them are in our civil law), not 
for the purpose of making our people Israelite, as Moses did, for compulsory 
religion is hypocrisy — not for the purpose of making our people have faith in 
Jesus Christ, as Constantine did, for compulsory Christianity is also hypoc- 
risy, but for the purpose of making them good moral people, and leaving 
them to choose for themselves their religion after they are grown up, 


THE BOOK OF GENESIS. 


533 


This 1 ‘Truth Seeker” started in with the book of Genesis, and went 
through the book of Genesis contradicting and denying everything therein; 
and to wind up with Genesis, they say, “that in the light of modern investi- 
gation that part of the account of the J ewish nation which we have so far 
gone over is discovered to be wholly without historical grounds.” 

By this they confess that they have accused the book of Genesis of 
lying, without any historical proof whatever. Then they went into the book 
of Exodus — where the Bible has profane history to sustain it — and there they 
begin to search for two stories and contradictions, with accusation of lying. 

I have followed it through to the fifteenth chapter of Exodus and have 
shown plainly that the lie rests wholly upon the “Truth Seeker.” I might 
follow it clear through with the same result, but if I have not already said 
enough to open the eyes of the blind, I could not say enough by going further; 
so we will let the blind lead the blind and all go into the ditch together. 

I will now return this book to the infidel that gave it to me, and renew 
our conversation, if he has further questions to ask me. 

But admitting that the Bible lies, and placing those lies in the Bible by 
the side of those lies in the Truth Seeker, a number of times I have asked 
without an answer — what were those lies written for? 

Let us look back at the vileness of heathenism, as we read about it. 
Look at the heathen mothers that will cast their babies into water to drown, 
or into the fire to burn, or — as we read — into death in various other ways, 
and think that that is a part of the true worship of God; think that such 
works are an honor to God. 

Look at the cannibal, and then look at the hog — the swine — they know 
no sympathy or sorrow for any but themselves, they have no respect or care 
for man or beast, they realize no honor for parent or friend, and the Esqui- 
maux in with them, we read that they, like the swine, make their habitation 
in a snow bank, or in a clift, as the swine make their habitation in some secret 
place, and there raise their 3 T oung. They know no marriage more than the 
birds of the forest who choose their mate and take them to their habitation. 
Their love and care for their young is acute, whilst they are young, as the 
swine is for hers whilst they are young. Let anything come to steal their 
young, and, as with the swine, it is death if they are able to administer death ; 
but if the j 7 oung is successfully stolen and carried away, anxiety in the 
parent's mind, the same as in the mind of the mother swine, soon fades away. 
Among those heathens — if a man wants a wife, the only way that he can get 
her — and the only marriage that there is, is to steal her from her parents; if 
he is caught in the act of stealing her it is sure death for him ; but if he is 
successful in stealing and carrying her away, that settles the whole matter. 
Among the more enlightehed heathens all manner of crime and depredation 
is practiced and carried on, and among the most literate people on earth is 
daily practiced all manner of heathenish crimes — except the cannibal prac- 
tice of eating of the human flesh — in the most shrewd manner imaginable. 
What constitutes a heathen except the crimes that they perform? Have we 


534 


HOW ARE WE LED ? 


any heathens in this country at this present day? In good moral families, 
surrounded with good moral precepts, we find perfect idiots who are far from 
being heathens. It is not foolishness that makes heathens, nor wisdom that 
makes Christians. 

Now the “Truth Seeker” tells us that the book of Genesis is feint and 
entirely without historical record, and that there never was such a person as 
Abraham, Isaac, Jacob or Joseph. 

Now admitting that Genesis is feint, what did Moses write that lie for? 
It was for the purpose of having a book whereby he could teach and cultivate 
the human mind, by something that would interest them. 

“The Truth Seeker” searches the book of Exodus for different stories, 
and contradictions which they call lies. Admitting that the whole book of 
Exodus is composed of lies, what did Moses compose and write those lies for? 
It was for the purpose of bringing the human mind out of heathenism into 
morality. 

“The Truth Seeker” tells us that there is two stories about the two 
tables of stone, which cross themselves. If Moses feigned those command- 
ments, it was for the purpose of compelling the human mind to leave off 
heathenism, such as is comparable to the beasts of the field ; and compelling 
them to practice good morals, such as ‘ ‘thou shalt not kill (murder) ; Thou 
shalt not steal; Thou shalt not swear (practice profane language),” etc. 

Moses wrote the Bible with good intent, therefore it was the inspiration 
of God, for God is good. And it is the only foundation for all good things. 

When “The Truth Seeker” showed us how Adam plowed the ground 
with the hog’s nose, they lied: and what was it for? It was for the purpose 
of censuring the only foundation for morality. When “ The Truth Seeker” 
turned to Exodose, to search for different stories and contradictions, and told 
us that they had found such, when they really had not, they lied ; and what 
was it for? It was to destroy all fidelity in the human mind ; both, in the 
foundation of morality and in the foundation of our national constitution. 
When Moses taught us that the Bible was the true word of God, what did he 
do? He drew many minds out of heathenism, and toward morality. When this 
company put forth this book under the title of ‘ ‘ Truth Seeker,” not “ Truth 
Giver” what do they do? They drive morality entirely out of the human 
mind, and they fill the human mind with every particle of heathenism (except 
cannibalism) ; even though the human mind is greatly literated. 

God is good ; the devil is evil ; that is, the mind of God is a mind of 
good ; the mind of the devil is a mind of evil. As far as the human being is 
concerned, God is a great mind— a mind of good. Whilst on the other hand 
the devil is also a great mind — a mind of fraud and deception, filled with all 
manner of evil. 

Every thought that enters the human mind is an inspiration from one 
or the other of those great minds. 

Is Moses’ work — if intended to improve the human mind — an inspiration 


INSPIRATION. 


535 


from God or not? If this “Truth Seeker” leads the human mind into 
heathenism, is their work an inspiration from the devil or not? I leave those 
questions for the infidel to answer. Are you loyal to our government? Are 
you loyal to morality? If so, from which of those books would you rather 
your children would be taught, from the Bible that leads them out of heath- 
enism, or from the “Truth Seeker,” that leads them into heathenism? As 
for the inspiration they were both inspired, the good and the bad. 

As for inspirations, I know that my mind was inspired by a higher power 
than the human being, telling me to go to Michigan (a distance of 200 miles), 
and there I would receive light in regard to my writing. After I had thought 
that my writing was finished, I know that I was inspired by a higher power 
than the human being, to interview the New Testament. 

You may say that I was inspired by the mind of God, or by the mind of 
the devil. I leave that for you to judge. 

As for there being a hereafter ; I know that my mind was inspired by 
the impression that the human mind was created in the image of the mind of 
God; it was the human mind that fell into depravity, and it is the human 
mind that must be risen again; and that if the mind be in the image of 
the mind of God, it must be an everlasting mind. Yet though you don’t 
believe my inspirations, raise your children in obedience and morality, for the 
good of this world. 


CHAPTER XY. 

The greatest questions ever put before the world. The newspaper correspond- 
ence. The old definition to the words, “Anno” and “Domini.” 

What is the object of life in this world? What can be the object for 
man to sweat and toil through this life to earn money one week to buy whisky, 
that the next week he may lurk in some low degraded place in drunkenness? 
W r herein is there any sweetness in life that is wholly spent in degradation of 
both dress, body and mind? For what object has nature given mortality a 
love, a desire, an anxiety to cling to such a life? Nature has so created 
mortality as to love life, even though it is the most degraded of all life upon 
the face of the earth. The most degraded life on the face of the earth 
started in with the pureness of Christ — the mind of God; but for lack of cul- 
tivation in its very beginning, it has swayed to the most degraded state of 
Satan — mind of the devil. It was nothing but the mind that was pure, and 
it is nothing but the mind that is degraded. And where has nature accom- 
plished anything? What object has nature in growing such a mind? What 
is the object in such a life? This person has grown up in a degraded state of 
mind, passed through life and gone into the great eternity in disgrace and 


536 


HOW ARE WE LED? 


shame, and is soon forgotten by all on earth. If there be no hereafter there 
can be no earthly object or no eternal object in such a life. Would not it 
have been better if that child had passed away whilst its mind was yet pure 
and white, than to have remained on earth until its mind became so degraded? 

Then we turn to another class of people who do not drink strong drink, 
neither do they work, but they sit down as a drone, and accomplish nothing 
in this world except to raise a family of children to become drunkards or 
thieves; their life and their children’s lives are as worthless as the life that 
we have just looked over. If there be no hereafter, can there be (either in 
this world or in the great eternity) any object whatever for such a life? If 
so, who will point out that object? for all will soon be gone and forgotten. 

Would not it have been better had that child passed away in its 
purity, rather than to have lived such a life? 

Then we find another class of people who will toil and slave themselves, 
cheat, rob, steal and murder others who are more worthy than themselves, 
that they may obtain a property that it may be said that they have accom- 
plished something in this world. But if there be no hereafter, what is the 
object of such a life, or of such an accomplishment? They have come into 
this world as poor and worthless a piece of mouldering clay as the one whom 
they have robbed or murdered, and they pass out of this world to moulder 
into dust the same as the degraded drunkard or drone. All come alike and 
all go alike; what is the object of this life? 

Then we meet another class that is always ready to talk about people, and 
that is gossip. Remember that idle talk about people is gossip ; and if there 
be no hereafter, all talk is idle talk. 

Then there is another class of people that strive to become great kings 
or great lords under some other title, that they may be long spoken of (after 
they have passed away) by public gossip. But my life shall not be spent with- 
out an object, and my object is to try to bring the human mind into the mind 
of God, and to bring the mind of God more and more into the human being, 
that many may say that “I am in the Father and the Father is in me.” But 
if I fail to do so, none shall ever say that I tried to deceive them, or tried to 
keep things from their knowledge to win their faith; and my reward shall be 
in the great eternity. 

If there be a heaven in eternity for the spirit of man, I care not for the 
form or substance of my spirit; it cannot enjoy comfort or pleasure unless it 
possess my mind, neither can it realize grief nor sorrow unless it possess my 
mind ; therefore, the mind must be the main thing that composes the spirit ; 
yet, if it possess some other mind aside from mine, it cannot be my spirit. 
Therefore, if there be a heaven, I shall cultivate my mind and try to enlighten 
other minds so as to enjoy that heaven in the great eternity. If there be no 
heaven, then my reward shall be, the placing of my name in the great eternal 
gossip of the human tongue. 

Now if we find a person or persons that will revise our books and change 
their contents for the sake of hiding anything from the mind of the public, 


BEGINNING OF THE NEW CENTURY. 


53? 


it does appear that they have a class of people that they can lead around as 
they could lead a bull with a ring in the nose. But if there be no real object 
in life in this world except to place the name in public gossip, who can fault 
them for revising our books and changing the meaning of their sentences to 
gain popularity to their creed and faith. 

Miss Mulock, in her day, was a noted writer. In writing her book 
entitled “John Halifax,” in her remarks on the century, on page 105, she 
said: “It ought to be doing something; with the new century it began this 
year. Did it not seem very odd at first to have to write ‘1800?’ ” This has 
led many readers to the idea that a century closes with the close of the year, 
1899. I believe that all new centuries begin with the beginning of the year 
1 of that century, yet I ask no living soul to believe what I write just be- 
cause I have written it. But I ask you to read and think, then use your own 
judgment. 

In November and December, 1899, many were putting items in the news- 
papers about the close of the present century, and about the beginning of a 
new century. 

After reading an item written by one Miss Wettengel, expressing her 
ideas that the present century would close with the close of December, 1899, 
and that the nineteenth century would begin with the beginning of the year 
1900; and after reading an item written by one J. J. Bennett, who remarked 

in his item that the nineteenth century began on Christ’s birthday the 

twenty-fifth day of December, 1899. I wrote the following piece and sent it 
to the editor of the same paper, which was printed the following week, and 
which I now place in this book: 


MORE ABOUT CHRIST’S BIRTHDAY. 


Lowell, Ind., January 6th, 1300. 

Editor Star: — 

May I say through your columns that J. J. Bennett (who stated in your issue 
of December 29, that this century began on Christmas day) is farther out of the 
way than Miss Wettengel, who made her statement the week before. He has 
probably conceived this idea from the custom of calling this era a Christian era. 
But I request the world to tell when this Christian era began, or how many years 
it has been running, let alone defining it to a day. 

Some say that Julius Caesar died some six years before Jesus was born. If 
that be so they had another Julius who took the throne and became Julius Caesar 
the same as England had many James’ who took the throne and became King 
James. At least Julius Caesar’s decree took effect four years and seven days after 
Jesus was born. (Seven days is the general supposition.) 

Julius made a decree that upon a certain day (the day that Jesus was four 
years and seven days old), the reckoning of time should be changed (and the time 
before that specified day is marked B. C. Before change). His decree was that 
the year should consist of 365 days and six hours, and that the certain day spoken 
of should be the first day of January, the first day of the year one (marked Anno 
Domini or A. D). That day should also be the first day of the era of A. D. From 
that day to this some have reckoned time under the title of A. D. (Anno Domini — 


538 


HOW ARE WE LED ? 


year of honor). The first, second and third day of that January was the first, 
second and third day of the year one, and the first, second and third day of the 
new era; and so on through January, and in fact on to the last day of December, 
which finished up the year one of the new era. One hundred of those years of 
honor marked A. D., constituted the first century of that new era; for a century 
is a hundred years to a minute, whilst an era is any length of time that may 
happen. 

Jesus was born on the 25th day of the moon Thebet, supposed to correspond 
with our month December, but in the fifth year before Caesar’s change, marked 
B. C. In the year 8 A. D., Jesus being 12 years old, He was found in the tem- 
ple conversing with the lawyers. (Is it possible that Jesus was born four years 
B. C., before Christ came into the world? or was it before the change)? In the 
close of December in the year 26, or in the beginning of January in the year 27, 
A. D., Jesus was baptized. In the year 30 He began to preach. In the year 33 He 
was crucified, and in the year 43 A. D., His disciples were first called Christians. 

Remember, in the year 43 of the first century of that new era marked A. D., 
the word Christianity sprang up. This new era sprang up on the day that Julius’ 
decree took effect, and the first century of the new era sprang up on the same 
day. The Julian calendar traced their era and their century, each year and 
each day for 1,581 years, nine months and some days; then in October of the year 
1582, Gregory having power, ended the era (in Rome) of Julius’ decree, by re- 
trenching ten days from that October, making it a month of only 21 days; then 
making a decree that Julius’ year was too long, and that thereafter the year 
should consist of 365 days, five hours, 48 minutes and 45 seconds, thus making 97 
leap years in every four centuries, whilst Julius had 100 leap years in the four 
centuries. This started a new era; it is the Gregory era instead of the Julian 
era, which brings New Year’s day twelve days earlier than the Julian era. 

The United States being under the control of England, the Gregory decree 
was not adopted until after Rome had passed a century which dropped out one 
leap year. Then England (and the United States also) adopted the Gregory 
decree, and retrenched eleven days from September, in the year 1752, and the 
records show that they made out deeds and papers on the second day of Septem- 
ber, 1752, and the next day they dated them September 14th, 1752. 

This affected Washington’s birthday. George Washington was born on the 
eleventh day of February, and being 20 years old at the time of this break in our 
era, he changed his birthday with the change in the era, so that his true age 
thereafter rolled around with the year on the 22d of February. 

This year we drop out another leap year, in 1800 we dropped out a leap year, 
thus making the Julian calendar and the Gregory calendar still two days farther 
apart, 

I believe that the Chinese and Mohammedans still to-day compute their time 
in accordance to the Julian calendar, which after the 28th of this February will 
bring their records 13 days behind ours. 

Since we have cut off the Julian era and adopted the Gregory era in its stead 
we have come right on with our records as though nothing had happened. 

Now I would like to ask, when did our Christian era begin? Was it at the 
birth of Jesus, four years and seven days before Christ? If so, did the first cen- 
tury begin on that day? or did our Christian era and the first century begin on 
the day that Jesus was 12 years old when He was in the temple conversing with 
the lawyers? or on the day that He was baptized? or the day that He began to 
preach? or the day that He was crucified? or was it ten years still later, the day 
that the word “Christian” sprang up? or did our Julian era and the first century 
begin with the beginning of the first year of Julius Caesar’s decree? 

C. H. Sanders. 


NEWSPAPER CORRESPONDENCE. 


539 


In writing the above, I showed the readers of this paper some things 
about Christianity that some of the Christian people would rather that I had 
not shown. But we remember, John says, 1.8,9. “He. . . .was sent to bear 
witness of that light. That was the true light which lighteth every man that 
cometji into the world.” This light is nothing more or nothing less than 
knowledge that enlighteneth the human mind; and when our most literate 
men revise our books for the purpose of changing their sentences, or changing 
the definition of words, they often take knowledge away from the human 
mind which cuts off that light which ‘ ‘is the true light. ” Or when our lead- 
ing men read and see or understand and then try to keep that knowledge from 
their followers, they are again cutting off that “true light,” thus leaving the 
human mind in darkness. 

The next week a minister of the Gospel put the following item into that 
paper: 


CENTURY QUESTION RIGHTLY SOLVED. 


[Rev. T. H. Ball, who is good authority, has handed us the following solution of the Century 
Pi'oblem. taken from The Union Signal, which he agrees with and says is the plainest figuring on 
the subject that has yet come to his notice.] 


Concerning the mooted question, when does the new century begin? M. Ca- 
mille Flammarion, the eminent astronomer, than whom no one is better qualified 
to speak with authority in matters of chronology, says: 

“This seemingly difficult problem is really very easy of solution. A dozen 
consists of twelve units. The number 12 is a part of the dozen. One hundred 
consists of one hundred units, and the number 100 is a part thereof. Now it is 
clear that there never was a year 0 in Christian chronology. The first year was 
No. 1, the tenth year was No. 10, and the hundredth year of the first century was 
the year 100. 

“What had led many persons astray has probably been the change in the first 
two figures of the year, as we see in the case of 1799-1800 or 1899-1900. A similar 
chomge, however, is made when 9 becomes 10, or when 99 becomes 100. If any one 
gives me one hundred cents E have a dollar, but the hundredth cent is just as nec- 
essary to my first dollar as the ninetieth. My hundred and first cent is the be- 
ginning of my second dollar. The hundredth is, in fact, a necessary portion of 
the dollar. 

“In like manner the hundredth year belongs to the century which is dying. 
Exactly, therefore, at midnight of December 31, 1900, will the hour-glass of the 
nineteenth century run out, and at the next moment the twentieth century will 
start on its career.” T. H. Ball. 


During this time I was told that I did not agree with the dictionary, and 
some of the Latin scholars said that they could trace Anno Domini back to 
the original Latin language, as a phrase noting the time from our Saviour’s 
incarnation. Now the fact of the matter is, the old original Latin language 
belongs to the Latumites who were wiped out of existence, and their language 


510 


HOW ARE WE LED? 


mingled with the Italian and Roman language long before Jesus Christ was 
born. If this was originally a Latin phrase and denoting the time of our 
Saviour’s incarnation, they must have noted that time long before any one 
knew when it would occur, for hundreds of years before it came, they were 
expecting it and looking for it daily; whilst on the other hand, if Domini 
really expressed honor to our Lord Jesus Christ (which I truly believe it did), 
it also expressed honor to anything or anybody to whom it was directed, (if 
deserving of honor,) every time the phrase was used; and Julius being a great 
man, their king, their Caesar, like the great men of our present days, would 
accept his portion of that honor every time the use of that phrase was directed 
to him or his works. 

Now if our Latin scholars can trace the phrase ‘‘Anno Domini” back to 
the original Latin language as denoting the time from our Saviour’s incarna- 
tion, it certainly must be that their literate men revised their books and 
changed the definition of their words or else our literate men have revised 
our books, and changed the definition of their words and phrases, even though 
they are printed in Latin type, and those revisions and changes must have 
been made for the express purpose of hiding the “true light that lightetli 
every man that cometh into the world,” and for the purpose of leaving the 
human mind in darkness in regard to those things. May I ask, what can it 
be done for, except to make those who are led, follow the doctrine of those 
who want to be leaders? 

After seeing things in this light, I sent the following item to our editor, 
which was followed the next week by one M. Castle: 

CORRECTING WEBSTER. 


Editor Star: — 

Some three or four weeks ago I wrote a piece for your paper concerning the 
Century and the Era. In my remarks I stated that the meaning of the term “An 
no Domini” is “year of honor.” 

In having my attention called to Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary — revised 
and enlarged by Chauncey A. Goodrich in the year 1894, it calls me to say that 
Mr. Goodrich is a human being like all other human beings, not perfect, but lia- 
ble to mistake and err. And when we turn to Webster’g old reliable, we find 
that Goodrich, by leaving the word “Anno” out of his revised work, made a mis- 
take; again when he left out the word “Domini” he made another mistake; and 
when he combined the two words and put them in with his only definition, “In 
the year of our Lord,” he made a third mistake. Let us take Webster’s old relia- 
ble dictionary and learn that the words “Anno” and “Domini” were not deriven 
for the purpose of “Noting time from our Saviour’s incarnation.” 

Small mistakes and errs will lead a great world into blindness. 

When we use a sentence containing “year 18— Anno,” we have an improper 
sentence, expressing “year” in our language, and repeating the very same word 
in the old Roman language: Precisely the same with a sentence containing “honor 
— domini,” expressing “honor” in our language, and repeating precisely the same 
word in the old Roman language. “Anno Domini — year of honor.” 

C. H. Sanders. 


Christ’s birthday. 


541 


TORN ALL TO PIECES. 


Lowell, Ind., February 4, 1900. 

Editor Star: — 

As C. H. Sanders (through the Star) has torn our early records all to pieces, 
and as he has fixed up George Washington’s birthday so that we can rely upon it, 
we would now like to have him arrange Christ’s birth and the Christian Era so 
that we can depend on that. M. Castle. 


After being attacked on those subjects and after reading Mr. Castle's 
call, I determined to send something more to the paper which might enlighten 
the human mind. After explaining that I thought that Jesus’ birthday was 
already arranged good enough, and that Christ is God — a mind of purity, 
peace, contentedness and satisfaction, and whilst dwelling in the body of Jesus, 
did remark, that ‘‘as often as ye do this, do it in remembrance of me” — a 
mind of purity. I remarked that those words would apply to anything that 
was good, as oft as we do anything that is right, do it in remembrance of 
Christ. But what is Christ? A mind of purity. After expressing this idea, 
I stated that if we met for good, Christ being a great mind of satisfaction, 
was perfectly satisfied with our meeting whether it be upon the right day of 
Jesus’ birth or a wrong day; and that if we met together for a drunken car- 
ousing spree, Christ does not want us to meet on Jesus’ birthday; therefore, 
I think Christmas day is arranged good enough as it now is. 

Then I farther partially explained (as I have explained on some of the 
previous pages in this book) that Jesus was a Jew, born and raised under 
the Jewish law and custom of computing time, and his followers also compu- 
ting time in the Jewish style, and that the Jews did not nor do not until this 
day, accept the Julian or the Gregory style of computing time. And that I 
had compared the Jewish calendar with the Gregory calendar for fifty-six 
successive years, and have found that the Jewish “Thebet,” supposed to cor- 
respond with our month “December;” the twenty-fifth day of Thebet varies, 
and sometimes occurs as early as the fifth day of December, and sometimes 
as late as the thirty-first day of December, and that it is impossible for man 
to arrange Christmas correctly on any one day in December. The only way 
to find Christmas as His record was kept when He was on earth, is to take 
the twenty-fifth day of the last moon that fulls before the twenty-first day of 
December, but it is impossible for man to tell (and was impossible to tell at 
the time that Christianity took possession of the Roman powers, and tried to 
bring things into the Julian style of records), upon what day of December 
the twenty-fifth day of that moon (Thebet) occurred, the year that Jesus was 
born. 

Mr. Castle also asked me to arrange the Christian era. This is another thing 
that is impossible for man to do. It is impossible for man to point out the 
first day that true Christianity reigned on earth; it is impossible to correctly 


542 


HOW ARE WE LED? 


arrange an era without knowing its first or last day. But, howsoever, as 
Jesus was continually giving “the true light” by parable (that is He would 
tell something that was hard to understand, then He would relate some fre- 
quent occurrence in comparison), I can only do the same in this case. 

Hid our Christian era begin the day that Jesus was bom? If so our 
Christian era is more than 1900 years, as Jesus w r as born four years and some 
days (and we know not how many days), before those 1900 records began. 
Hid our Christian era begin the day that Jesus first showed His magnificent 
understanding, when He was twelve years old, when he was found in the 
temple conversing with the lawyers? If so our Christian era cannot have 
1900 years progress, as that was in the year eight, and we know not what day 
of the year that was. Hid our Christian era begin on the day that Jesus 
was baptized, or the day that He began to preach, or the day that 
he was crucified? This last day was on the fourteenth day of the Nisan moon. 
And as the day began at sundown, and as he ate the passover supper at “the 
appointed day and hour, ” which was after sundown, and as He was crucified 
before the next sundown, He was crucified on the fourteenth day of that 
moon. In either of those cases it falls short of 1900 years, and we can’t 
find what day of the year either, yet the fourteenth day of Nisan can be as 
easily found as the twenty-fifth day of Thebet. 

Hid the Christian era begin on the day that the apostles were first called 
Christians? If so, the Christian era falls forty-three years short of 1900, and 
its first day lost at that. Our common era began with the first day that the 
Julian decree began its force, and this era needs no arranging, and its first 
day is well known to be the first day of January of the year 1, A. H. , and 
as for the eleven days retrenched, Julius gave us years that were eleven 
minutes and forty-five seconds too long for the sun, and when we had passed 
over 1652 years we were more than eleven days in advance of the sun, thus 
it did not require another full year to come even with the sun, so a year eleven 
days short was all that was required to bring the true year around with the sun. 
As for the Christian era, we cannot find its beginning day, therefore all that I 
can do with that is to compare it with a cold winter. 

Jesus brought into this world true Christianity, yet we cannot find its 
first day or its last day. Suppose we have a score of winters, each invariably 
begins on the twentieth day of Hecember and ends on the twentieth day of 
March; and autumn’s cold frosty nights warn us when winter is approaching. 
If nineteen of those winters begin on the twentieth day of Hecember, with 
the mercury at eight degrees above zero, and passes clear through and ends 
on the twentieth day of. March with the mercury at that point, and as for 
the one remaining winter, the cold frosty nights of autumn also remind us 
that winter is approaching, yet its days are red hot with the noon sun- 
shine. This winter begins on the twentieth day of Hecember with the mer- 
cury at thirty degrees above zero, and remains there until the .... day of 
January; then the mercury falls to twelve degrees below zero and remains at 
that point until the .... day of February, then it rises again to thirty degrees 


THE CHRISTIAN ERA. 


543 


above zero, and remains there until winter closes on the twentieth day of 
March. Then follows up its spring days red hot with their noon sunshine, 
yet there is coolness enough in the frosty nights to justify its cold bleak 
winds of April in singing around every house corner, we are winter, we are 
winter. 

Now this winter has been the same length as all other winters; the de- 
grees of its mercury is on an average with the mercury degrees of all other 
winters. It has been true cold weather, yet no one can tell the very day that 
its cold weather began, neither can anyone tell the very day its cold weather 
closed, yet it will always be remembered as the cold winter. 

Precisely the same with our Christian era. We had religion in the world 
before Jesus was born, enough coolness in their autumn nights of religion to 
show that true Christianity (winter) was approaching, yet those calling them- 
selves religious were red hot with crime and iniquity and remained hot 
(enough to crucify Jesus), until. . . .day in the Julian era. Then came true 
Christianity and remained so until. . . .day of the dark ages, when the Julian 
era closed, in (1752) with the religious people again being red hot with the 
crimes of branding in the forehead with a red hot iron; or running a red hot 
iron through the tongue; tie a cord firmly around the great toes and hang 
them up with the head down until life was exhausted ; or tie alive to a post, and 
then burned to death, or killed in various other ways all who advance any 
new ideas on religious matters. (Those were Christian people that done this, 
and other churches as well as the Catholic church). And so depress any and 
all self judgment or ideas of religion. Thus closing the cold winter (true 
Christianity), which will long be remembered as the Christian era. 

Now comes in the spring days of Christianity with just coolness enough 
in the evening of life to justify the cold bleak winds of death in singing 
around every church corner, I’m a Christian, I’m a Christian. 

Now we find that our common era will always be remembered as the true 
Christian era, yet no living soul can tell the day that true Christianity began, 
or the day that it vanished ; yet there is true Christianity. 

When I had arranged Jesus’ birthday and the Christian era so as to 
answer Mr. Castle’s item, I sent it to the editor, but he withheld it from his 
paper. I suppose he thought that I had brought forth too much of ‘ ‘the 
true light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world,” “knowledge.” 

Since I have written the above, I will visit the public schools for the 
purpose of examining their dictionaries, and I learn there is five different 
dictionaries, all claiming the title of Noah Webster, who was on earth nearly 
one hundred and fifty years ago. 

I am unprepared at present to say just when and where I became 
acquainted with the words “Anno” and “Domini,” and their definitions. But 
once having in my possession an old Webster dictionary, and being positive 
that those words were separately in that book, I wrote to my friends to write 
me those words and their full definitions and the title and date of the book. 
And being informed that those words were not in that dictionary it leaves 


544 


HOW ARE WE LEO? 


me to say that no person must believe it to be just as I have written it, just 
because I have written it so. But read, think, and use your own judgment. 

As I have heard of five different dictionaries bearing the title of Noah 
Webster, and as I have as much faith in Christ, and as much honor for Christ 
as any church member (that indulges in profane language, or every day sins 
and short comings) can have; all that I can now do, is to protest against 
their definitions by saying that in Webster’s unabridged dictionary No. 1, 
revised in the year 1879, says “Anno Domini:” “In the year of our Lord.” 
This definition indicates that one of those words points out a period of time 
containing twelve months (year); it also indicates, that, in connection with 
the other word it points out this period of time with honor to some one, and 
the definition itself tells us who w r as honored (our Lord.) 

Dictionary No. 2 is entitled “N. Webster,” and “entered according to 
act of congress, in the year 1890, by G. and C. Merriam <& Co.” This com- 
pany has revised this book four times; first in the year 1864; second, in the 
year 1879; third, in the year 1884, and fourth, in the year 1890. 

I find in this dictionary “Anno Domini,” with a definition, “In the year 
of (our) Lord (Jesus Christ.”) Thus making it read, “in the j 7 ear of Lord.” 
Second definition: “In the year of our Christian era.” 

In olden times, and in some countries to this day, if a man hires another, 
he is lord over the other; or if he is higher in rank or wealth he is looked 
upon and noted as lord ; and often times the oldest brother of the family is 
called lord. 

In their bracketing those words, they admit that that phrase denotes 
time, with honor or respect to that time; and their bracketing the word 
“our,” leaves it open to any people or nation that does or ever did U 3 C the 
phrase. If the Chinese or Mohammedans (or any other people), use that 
phrase, it points to their Lord or lord, as they see fit (and the Mohammedans 
are said to use the Julian calendar, they must use that phrase). But when 
defined to our Lord, bracketing the word “our,” shows that in our language 
it points directly to our Lord; and bracketing the words “Jesus Christ,” 
it points out to us just who is our Lord. 

As for its denoting “the year of (our) Lord (Jesus Christ), according to 
our teachings, all years are the year of our Lord ; for we are taught that 
Jesus Christ was in existence and talked with God before the world was 
created. If that be the case, the first year of the world was in His time the 
same as the last. Every year from the creation to the birth of Jesus, was in 
the year of our Lord, then came His thirty-six years and a quarter of incar- 
nation, those were years of our Lord just the same as the years that had 
already passed by Him ; yet our Anno-Domini only points out less than thirty- 
two years and a quarter of that thirty-six. Then again after his incarnate 
state all years are the years of our very same Lord that was with God, and 
talked with God before the creation. Their bracketing those words show that 
“Anno Domini” points out a period of time — a year — with honor, and points 
to any being or any object that common custom designates. Our custom 


VARIANCE OF DEFINITIONS. 


545 


(records) point directly to the day that Julius’ decree took effect; but we 
teach our subject that it points to a certain period of Christ’s incarnation but 
no one can designate which period. 

As for their second definition, “In the year of our Christian era.” There 
is no living soul that can point out the first day of true Christianity; but if 
we except of our common (Julian) era, as our Christian era, as we except of 
the cold winter, because extreme true Christianity was made manifest during 
this era; then this definition is correct and proper. 

Dictionary No. 3 is “The original Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary,” 
“revised and enlarged by Chauncey A. Goodrich, in the year 1894.” 

He gives us “Anno Domini, [L.] In the year of our Lord, noting the time 
from our Saviour’s incarnation. ” The fact of the matter is, the Latiumites 
passed away before Jesus was born, and the Latin language was mixed up 
with the Italian, and with the Roman language; and if Anno-Domini had 
been devised expressly to note the time from Christ’s incarnation, it would 
have pointed directly to that date. But if many years after Christ’s incarna- 
tion, it was found in the Roman language (though written in Latin letters), 
and then defined to the incarnation of Christ, it was done through frailty, or 
through intent, to lead the blind into that idea. 

In dictionary No. 4 I find the following note: 

‘ ‘ Inasmuch as with the progress of science, the inventions of art, and 
the freedom accorded to literature, new words gradually come into use, and 
words already familiar are employed in new applications and significations, it 
is inevitable that a supplement of new words and new meanings occasionally 
be required for the dictionary of every living language. The materials for 
such a supplement have been slowly accumulated from the many sources, and 
at the suggestion and by the assistance of many friends of literature and 
science. These materials have been carefully revised and greatly enriched 
by conscientious labors of Professor Franklin B. Dexter, of Yale College, and 
as the result a considerable addition of new words and significations is now 
presented to the public, together with a greatly enlarged and improved Bio- 
graphical Dictionary, the work of Mr. Loomis J. Campbell, a careful and 
experienced student and laborer. 

Yale College, 1879.” 

This note says, ‘ ‘new words come into use, and words already familiar 
are employed in new applications and significations.” This is true. I have 
said many times, that knowledge, judgment and understanding, are continually 
growing and bringing new words or new definitions into use, but when we 
bring new words or new definitions into use, don’t make the blind believe 
that they were always in use — dont lay aside or change off the old words 
and old definitions for new ones, but add the new definitions to the old 
ones, to show that they had the old meaning, and that they now have 
the new meaning. This note further says: “It is necessary that a supple- 
ment of new words and new meanings should occasionally be required for the 
dictionary of every living language.” This is also true, and I blame no per- 


546 


HOW ARE WE RED? 


son for revising the dictionary. But mistakes and errors will occur with the 
very best of people (a number of good people will sometimes make imperfect 
laws which might be repealed), and the way to correct errors, are to point them 
out. If we cover and hide errors because they are made by our best people, 
we only hide “the true light that lighteth every man that cometh into the 
world,” and cause “that light to shine in the darkness and the darkness shall 
comprehend it not.” 

When I came to my last dictionary, I found that the word Anno in the 
original Latin language designated “year;” and I also find that it designated 
a “year” in the Boman language, and for other purposes than the pointing 
out the time from our Saviour’s incarnation. I also find the word “Domini” 
designating “honor” wherever it was used. In this dictionary I do not find 
those words connected or mentioning our Saviour in any way, in regard 
to those words. But I find those words separate and apart, and pointing 
directly to other questions. 

In my mind I have charged this error to the ancient men of fifteen hun- 
dred years ago, when the Christian church first took possession of national 
powers. But to my surprise I find it right here in our present time. 

We remember that dictionary No. 2 was revised by G. and C. Mer- 
riam & Co. and entered according to act of Congress in the year 1890. We 
also remember that that dictionary stated that this company had also revised 
Webster’s Dictionary in 1864, 1879 and 1884. This last dictionary appears 
to be one of those former revisions, and is entitled “Webster’s Boyal Quarto 
Dictionary, Unabridged.” By “G. and C. Merriam & Co.” 

Now we find that this last ( or old dictionary), gives us to know that in 
the old Latin language the word “Anno” meant “year,” and with entirely a 
different subject from our Lord Jesus Christ. And the second definition tells 
us that in the Roman language also it means “year;” and again in entirely 
a different subject from that of our Saviour. 

We also find “Domini” as a title of honor to clergymen, gentlemen, or 
rank of nobility; one owning property, or having control of person or 
property, and entirely without mention in any way of our Lord Jesus Christ. 

In this dictionary I find no date of revision, but it is one of the revisions 
of G. and C. Merriam; between the years 1864 and 1890. In it “Anno” 
means “years,” and “na” means something concerning those years. (I 
understand it that “Anno” is plural, meaning years; “Annus” is singular, 
meaning year). 

“An-no-na [Lat., from An-nus, year.] This dictionary says: 1 A year’s 
production or increase; hence, provision for a year’s subsistence. 2 [Rom. 
Hist. ] A contribution or tax, payable in corn, imposed on some of the more 
fertile provinces.” 

“Dominus, n. ; pi. Domini. [Lat., master, lord.] faster; Sir; a title of 
respect formerly applied to clergymen, gentlemen, the nobility, etc. 

'(Law.) A lord or master; one having control of, or property in, a thing; 
owner; proprietor.” 


ANNO AND DOMINI. 


547 


“Dominus” is a noun, but I would call it a nick-name. When applied 
to so many classes of people, or so many years, I would call it plural, and 
spell it “Domini,” but if addressing one person as Christ alone, I would spell 
it “Dominus.” 

If changing those definitions is done by church leaders, thinking to draw 
the public mind closer and closer into their faith and doctrine, they could do 
far more good to care less about those things and pay more attention to 
teaching mothers to compel their children to practice morality in every respect. 

As for their work they will have something to do before they can bring 
the Christian era to a true starting point with the first day of true Christian- 
ity, and make the records of A. D. point direct to the birth of Jesus. They 
will have to entirely do away with “the true light that lighteth every mail 
that cometh into the world.” They will have to prove that “that light shineth 
in darkness and the darkness coinprehendeth it not.” But if they will confess 
that those things are as they are, and that Christ is perfect satisfaction, and 
that God through Christ is perfectly satisfied with dates, records, and era, 
just as they are; if we will (in the future), strive to bring the infant mind 
closer and closer to the mind of God, Christ will again say, “Suffer infant 
minds to come unto me and forbid them not, for of such is the kingdom 
of heaven.” 

Now let us look a little at public opinion, and trace the mind of the best 
and most literate men of our nation, in search of perfection. Perfection is 
Christianity ; public opinion is that literature is the greatest thing on earth 
to Christianize the world. But, is that a perfect idea? I was always in favor 
of education, but the idea of its Christianizing a person I cannot accept. We 
have seen as big devils as ever trod the face of the earth, who had a splendid 
book education ; we never saw such a devil on earth, who had received a per- 
fect moral cultivation from their birth up. 

We choose the most literate men that our state affords, to make our state 
laws. But do we acknowledge them to have perfect ideas, by choosing them 
to fill this position? 

Different states have passed laws that each child in that state shall be 
educated to the full extent of said law, and the public opinion favors said 
law; yet is that a perfect step toward moralizing or Christianizing the world? ' 

Each state chooses their most literate men to meet at our capital to make 
our government laws, but must we acknowledge them perfect in all of their 
views because they fill that position? May the illiterate person study and 
exercise his judgment as well as the literate? We often see laws repealed 
on the account of imperfection that have been passed by a large number of 
literate men. 

In looking over our government laws, we find one branch entitled civil 
service. In looking over different papers from this civil service department, 
my eyes fell upon one subject that contained the following sentence: “Within 
the last quarter of a century our writers of fiction has increased greatly. This 
class of literature has received an impulse from the establishment of periodi- 


548 


HOW ARE WE LED ? 


cals of an advanced literary character. In them are found some of the best 
authors of English and American engaged in instructing their readers .... 
Thus training the minds of the people for a still more clearer appreciation of 
literature, and a higher plan of general culture .... Those articles are written 
by able men.” 

All novels are composed of fiction. I was taught that novel-reading led 
the youthful mind into all manner of degradation. To-day a large majority 
of our people are taught the same. When we read of so many criminals con- 
fessing their crimes, and testifying that they conceived their adventures from 
reading novels, it greatly strengthens this idea. 

When I read the above I was surprised to see fictitious writings so highly 
spoken of by our most influential men. I thought that public opinion would 
cleave to the influence of those men, therefore it would be useless for me to 
notice this writing. 

When I was seventeen years old, a sister having died, I was presented 
with a nice book as a present from this sister. At that time I could read but 
a little, and I was ashamed to go to school and try to read in the presence of 
a school, sol had only to study reading by myself. I took my book and 
read it through and through. It was entitled “The Prince of the House of 
David.” I thought that I had a sketch of the true history of Jesus Christ, 
handed down from one present and with Him when He was on earth. 

Since I saw the item from the civil service department, I picked up the 
old treasure that I laid away when a boy, “The Prince of the House of 
David,” and what do I find but a novel, written by Rev. J. H. Ingraham, 
and revised by the same man in 1859. 

Now I must say that this is a very good book; I read it when a boy, 
when my mind was young and yet growing, and it drew my mind closer and 
closer into morality, yet it is a novel ; and I look and find that most all of our 
interesting books are novels. It is hard to find a subject that a person can 
write upon, and make it interesting to the human mind, except the writer 
puts in a great deal of fiction ; therefore I must agree with public opinion, 
that fictitious writing is of great value to educate and cultivate the growing 
mind, that it can better receive +he true light through the use of self -judg- 
ment. Learn to read, and learn to judge whether you are reading novelty or 
reality. 

As for my work, I have written some parables to explain my ideas, but 
I have not written one single fable, yet I have cautioned my readers many 
times not to believe it because I have written it; but my main object is to 
bring forth ideas ; ask you to read and dwell upon those ideas, and use your 
own judgment. 

But the greatest idea that I have ever tried to put before the human 
mind, is the idea that God is nothing more or nothing less than a great mind 
(the mind is all that makes us man; the mind is all that makes Him God), a 
mind without material body or form; a mind of great power; a mind invisible, 
yet capable of creating the great world and everything that is created in this 


COMPULSION AND PERSUASION. 


540 


world; the idea that Christ is the (nothing more or nothing less than the mind) 
spirit of God, that dwells in the mortal body ; and that J esus was the mortal 
body that Christ dwelt in at the time that He said that “I am in the Father 
(mind of God), and the Father (mind of God) is in me.” “I and the Father 
are one.” The idea that God is a mind of purity and perfection in all places; 
and the idea that the devil is equally as great a miDd, in direct opposition to 
the mind of God ; pollute and corrupt, grown up as a knurly, crooked, scrawny 
tree. 

Moses thought to persuade his people to conceive the spirit (mind) of 
God, which always leads a moral life. But his father-in-law told him that he 
must have compulsive laws (Exo. 18.), and rulers over his people, compelling 
them to practice morality. This Moses did, and from that time on he and his 
successors compelled their people (after their crooked, knurly tree had grown) 
to practice morality, under laws, that ‘ ‘ thou shalt , ” or die. 

Jesus thought to persuade the people to inspire the spirit of God, and 
walk in good morals (and suffer your children also) ; and his disciples thought 
to teach the same doctrine ; but Constantine being more determined made 
laws compelling them, after their tree had grown. 

Our nation has made our laws the same, compelling them after their 
mind has grown, to practice Godliness or live imprisoned, or suffer death. 
Our people have learned that compulsion far excels persuasion, so our national 
laws leave persuasion entirely to our preachers. Now the fact is this: our 
national laws point outplaces , wherein it says, thou shalt not use profane lan- 
guage yet, this law is violated constantly, and we dare not enforce this law, 
for fear the violater will do us some secret injury. Our persuaders take us 
into their church and teach us, thou shalt not use profane language, yet their 
members use profane language daily; and when they come to die, our 
preachers tell us that they have been good Christians. 

Not only the national laws and the church rules against profanity is con- 
stantly violated ( and the violators mind permitted to grow in that direction), 
but various other laws and church rules are also violated, and such devilish 
minds permitted to continually grow in that channel, and our preachers as 
before, tell us they have been good Christians. Now I appeal to public 
opinion, and expect good judgment to answer, as I ask: wherein does our 
compulsive laws or preachers persuasions bring the human body to walk in 
the mind of God? or cultivate the growth of the mind of God, in the 
human mind. 

But I have one more idea to bring forth, and that is this, as we have 
got to use compulsion, if we were to compel the parents to raise their infants 
in perfect morality, in their little bits of evils, that would not require 
revenge in their early infant days, when their bosom does not harbor revenge- 
fulness, would not there be less call for our hard compulsive laws which 
now exist? 

As for our parents who are sorrowing over their literate children now in 
prison, or on the gallows scaffold, would not their sorrow over those edu- 


550 


HOW ARE WE LED? 


cated children be turned into comfort and pleasure over the works of good 
moral children, though not so highly educated? Would not our preachers 
find it easier persuading, and find truer Christians in their churches? And 
could not we again find people exclaiming, “I am in the Father (mind of 
God), and the Father is in me.” “I and the Father are one. ” 


CHAPTER XVI. 


Explanation of the Thirty-eighth Verse of the Seventh Chapter of St. John 
Review of the Books of the Apocrypha. 

Now we will review the Books of the Apocrypha. But as a friend 
has asked me to explain to him the meaning of the thirty-eighth verse of the 
seventh chapter of St. John, which I did in writing. And before taking up 
those books, for the purpose of again drawing the mind of my readers to my 
own mind, I will place this explanation herein. 

Burnham: “Can you explain, or find someone that can explain to me, 
the meaning of the thirty-eighth verse of the seventh chapter of St. John?” 

C. H. S.: “I don’t know; I never had my attention called to that 
verse. ” 

Burnham: “When you go home I wish you would study that verse 
over and tell me what you think about it. ” 

Now, Mr. Burnham has chosen a verse that does not call for very much 
explanation farther than the next verse explains it, yet I explained it as 
follows: 

Z. C. Burnham, Esq. : I have found that verse in the book of St. John 
that you were speaking about, and it is just as clear to me as any part of the 
Bible: “He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly 
shall flow rivers of living water.” 

Let me say here, that I am as true a Christian as treads the earth. I 
believe that Christ is the son of the true and living God; but what is Christ? 
I believe that Christ is a true and living branch of God; but what is God? I 
believe that every true Christian is a branch of the very same God, and a 
brother or sister and joint heir with Christ; but what is a Christian? I 
believe that the Holy Scriptures of the Bible, both Old Testament and New, 
were written for the express purpose of bringing the human mind closer and 
closer into this very same Christ, this very same God. Yet I don’t hold 
Jesus of Nazareth as high above the whole face of the earth as the church 
members do. I don’t pinch the Holy Bible as tightly as the church members 
do. I believe that any writing that will draw the human mind closer and 
closer into the fold of God is Holy Scripture, whether found outside of the 
Bible or in it, and I believe it to be just as niuch the divine inspiration of 


HOW ABE WE LED? 


551 


(yod as any part of the Bible. I don’t believe that records of where men 
walked, how armies fought, where armies camped, records of manslaughter 
or regular massacres are scripture, or were ever calculated as scripture, 
though much such is found in the Bible; nor I don’t believe that Jesus ever 
expounded such as the law, or the prophets. Neither do I believe in tearing 
the Bible all to pieces and throwing it entirely away because I find such in it. 

X know that there is an overruling power that will instruct the human mind, 
that will show to the human mind things that the mortal eye cannot see, that 
will tell to the human mind things that the mortal tongue doth not know, 
that will instruct the human mind different from any other instruction, and 
for that reason I can neither give up Christ, nor His scripture. Therefore we 
have got to learn many things. before we can fully understand the Bible. As 
for this verse I will say: 

First. Look at the world and you will see that we have people that 
have good judgment and understanding, then you will see others that are 
perfect dummies. Then, you look back fifty years, since you can remember, 
and you can see that we have less dummies to-day than we had fifty years 
ago. This proves to us that knowledge, judgment and understanding are con- 
tinually growing. Then look back 1900 years, and judge how language and 
understanding have greatly grown since the Apostles’time and then say, could 
Jesus talk with us to-day, He could use many words that would sound 
better to us, and be better understood by us, than the words that He had to 
use at that time in their language, for He had to use words that they used 
and understood at that time. Then look 1700 years farther back, to the 
days of Moses, and, expressing your own judgment, has not knowledge, 
judgment, understanding and language greatly grown since Moses’ days? 
Moses had to use the language that those used and understood whom he was 
addressing, in order that he could be understood by them. 

When we read first Sam. 25:22-34, first Kings 14:10, 16:11, 21:21, and 
second Kings 9 :8, we must not condemn the whole Bible because this lan- 
guage was found there, but remember that this language was used daily in 
their common conversation, and they thought nothing of using it in any 
society, yet it is not scripture. Our judgment and understanding has out- 
grown such language in common use, yet let us hold fast to the righteousness 
of the Old Testament. 

Second. Let us learn that, as Joseph said in his writings, 5 ‘Moses 
wrote a part of his writings in parable.” If we would not look with the 
mortal eye, but look for some spiritual idea in comparison to such things, we 
could better understand his writings. Jesus, following his example, gave us 
very much in parable, which is very hard for us to understand. 

Third. We have got to understand that Jesus divided himself into two 
separate beings, and often talked about His spiritual being, giving entirely 
spiritual ideas, as, “I (the spirit) am with the Father (spirit), and the 
Father (spirit) is with Me (the spirit),” and other such expressions, showing 
that He was alluding wholly to the spirit. Then, again, we learn that He 


552 


HOW ARE WE LED? 


spoke of the mortal body separate and apart from the spirit, as He said, ‘ 1 A 
body hast thou prepared Me.” Again He said, ‘ ‘Destroy this temple and in 
three days I will raise it up.” “But He spoke of the temple of His body. 
Now we must learn that Jesus and Christ were two separate beings; Christ 
was the spirit whichialways was and which always will be: whilst Jesus was 
the mortal body which was prepared for Christ to dwell in, which only lasted 
a short time, and He himself thus separated them. 

Fourth. We must look the world over and see that the mind is all that 
makes us man; take the mind entirely away from us and we are nothing, not 
as much as a brute. The mind is all that realizes any pain or sorrow. The 
mind is all that enjoys any comfort or pleasure. In fact, the mind is all that 
plots, plans, or brings into execution any word or act. 

Fifth. We must learn to divide all human beings into two separate 
beings, as Jesus Christ divided himself, the mortal being composed of visible 
and corruptible matter, and the spiritual being entirely void of visible or 
corruptible matter. 

Sixth. We must learn that (as far as man is concerned) all that consti- 
tutes God is His great mind, without His mind He is naught. His mind is all 
that plotted, planned or carried into execution any act that He ever com- 
mitted. 

Seventh. We must learn what a person’s spirit is. A preacher once 
told me that “the mortal body of Jesus was a perfect image of the 
material body of God.” I claim that God has no material body, but the 
spiritual being of Christ was and is still to-day a perfect image of the 
spiritual being of God, as far as it goes. But what is the spirit? 

This same preacher told me that the mortal body of man must turn to 
dust, and then be transformed again into another body, to become our spirit. 
I told him that some soldiers’ limbs were buried in the southern States, whilst 
the remainder of the body is buried in the northern states . He said, ‘ ‘ not 
the same dust would come up again, but as the corn is planted and turns to 
dust, and comes up again, so must the mortal body turn to dust and bring 
forth a new body. This is resurrection.” I have heard others say that “a 
spirit must have wings,” similar to a bird, that would make a different body, 
yet I am willing to accept it. 

Now, I care not what kind of a body is resurrected for my spirit, that 
spirit enjoys no comfort or pleasure, except it possesses a mind; it will realize 
no sorrow or pain, unless it possesses a mind, and if it posseses your mind, 
it cannot be my spirit, or if it possesses my mind, it cannot be your spirit, 
or, if it possesses an entirely different mind, it can neither be my spirit nor 
your spirit. My spirit must possess my mind, but what is the spirit? The 
spirit (only thing that realizes) of God is a great mind of righteousness that 
was in existence before the creation, is yet in existence, and will be in exist- 
ence after this world has passed away. The spirit of Jesus was a perfect 
image of the spirit of God, a great mind of righteousness, always trying to 
teach the world to do right. ‘ ‘ Suffer little children to come unto me (a righte- 


HOW ARE WE LED? 


553 


ous and obedient mind always trying to do right), for of such is the kingdom 
of heaven.” 

Eighth. We must recollect that Jesus was continually teaching us in 
parables, expressing some spiritual idea by comparing it with some earthly 
object that the dumbest might understand. 

Ninth. We must recollect that Jesus in speaking of the spirit of God, 
very often, in parable, called it a great water, or a living water. I, in speak- 
ing of the very same spirit of the very same God, call it a great tree, or, the 
tree of life. 

Tenth. As for this verse in St. John that you spoke of, we must remem- 
ber that Jesus was a great preacher, preaching very long sermons, and in this 
chapter we have a very short sketch of this sermon ; and if we had this whole 
sermon, it would explain this verse better than man can explain it. But as 
language has improved since the Apostolic days, I shall change the word 
“belly” to the word “body,” and the word “water” to the word “God’s 
mind, ” and say, “out of the body shall flow rivers of God’s mind. ” As judg- 
ment and understanding has greatly grown, and as Jesus said so many times, 
“Do not ye yet understand?” “How is it that ye do not understand?” 
“Why do ye not understand my speech? And as our Bible is filled 
with parables, through good judgment I shall try to understand this 
verse to read, “he that believe th on a righteous mind, as the Scripture 
hath said, out of his body shall flow rivers of righteous nature.” And as 
the spirit of God is composed of a pure, righteous mind, and as the spirit 
of Christ is composed of a pure, righteous mind, we must confess that they 
were — that they now are — and that they always will be firmly united 
together. And that a spirit of man that is composed of a pure, righteous 
nature, wholly grown by a pure, righteous mind, must also be united forever 
to that very same spirit of God to that very same spirit of Christ, and that 
unity must be “life everlasting.” 

Now, as the spirit of God is a great tree of many branches, and as Christ 
is the main branch of this great tree, the great tree of life, and as the spirit 
of the devil is also a great tree, in direct opposition to the spirit of God, a 
tree of eternal destruction; and as every human mind must be a branch of 
one or of the other of those great trees, I leave you to look the world over, 
watching the disposition of any person that you may please, exercising your 
own judgment to see if there “flows out of their body rivers of living water, ” 
to water the great tree of life, or rivers of bitter water, which waters the 
great tree of destruction. Are they branches of the great tree that Christ 
is the main branch of? Are they brethren and sisters to Christ? or, are they 
branches of the great tree that Satan is the main branch of? Are they 
brethren and sisters to Satan? They must be brethren and sisters to one or 
to the other. They must be branches of the one, or of the other of those 
great trees. 

Now, as I turn to the books of Apocrypha, I will say, if I understand 
what is God, if I understand what was Christ, if I understand what is Christi- 


554 


HOW ARE WE LED? 


anity, I am as true a Christian as any church member can be, yet I do not 
pinch the New Testament as tightly as though I desire to leave my finger- 
print in its lids. If I understand what Israelitism is, I am as true an Isra- 
elite, as any I ever saw, yet, I don’t pinch the Old Testament with a grip 
that cannot be relaxed. If the spirit of God is the instituter of righteous- 
ness, if the spirit of Christ is a giver of righteousness, I have as great faith in 
Christ, being a branch of, or a son of God, as any person can have. If God 
is pureness, if Christ is pureness, if holiness is pureness, and if the Holy 
Ghost, has a steady righteous nature, it must be a pure nature, it must be a 
holy nature ; therefore, the righteous spirit of God, the righteous spirit of 
Christ, and the righteous spirit of the Holy Ghost (Holy Nature), must be 
united, and one ; and I have as great faith in that Trinity as any person can 
have. And as for any minor righteousness, I have equal faith, yet, when I 
come to the church doctrine that teaches us that our friend has gone to 
heaven, because she confessed that Jesus of Nazareth was the son of God, 
and because her mortal body was baptized in water, in such I have no faith. 
When I come to the church doctrine that tells us that it makes no difference 
what we have done, or what we may do in this life, if before we die, we 
repent, confess Jesus Christ to be the true son of God, and immerse the 
mortal body in water, that is all that is required ; in such I have no faith . 
Such doctrine teaches the world to practice any or all manner of heathenish 
practice; all that we have to do is to dodge the gallows, and before we die, 
repent; confess Jesus Christ to be the son of God, and baptize the mortal 
body in water, but not of the Holy Ghost — Holy Nature. 

It is true that I have read that ‘ ‘he that cometh in at the eleventh hour 
shall receive his penny the same as he that cometh in at the first. ” But give 
us the whole sermon in which this sentence was spoken, that we may better 
understand it. Also I remember another teaching, suffer the mind of little 
children to come unto my mind, “for of such is the kingdom of heaven.” 
I have great faith in confessing that Christ alone is the true branch of God. 
I have great faith in immersing the spirit of little children into the spirit of 
the Holy Ghost, by compelling little children (from their birth) to obey their 
parents and practice morality. “John baptizeth ~ou with water, but I 
baptize you with the Holy Ghost.” 

When I come to the church doctrine that teaches us that there is great 
reward in the “Holy name Jesus, in the great name Jesus, in the blessed 
name Jesus which is God’s own name, instituted expressly for God’s own 
son,” in it I have no faith: for when I find the name Jesus in the Bible, 
alluding to a different person from that of Jesus of Nazareth, those church 
members tell me that it is the name Joshua misspelt. And when I find — 
outside of the Bible — the name Jesus, alluding to a different person from 
that of Jesus of Nazareth, those church members tell me that I can put no 
dependence in any book outside of the Bible. In those church sayings I have 
no faith. 

Now the books that I introduce are outside of the Bible, yet they are 


ROW ARE WE LED? 


5.5 

principally the same as the books of the Old Testament. They are records 
sketching the history of the Jewish people in their captivity, and of others 
who mingled with them. Those books are divided into chapters and verses, 
the same as the Bible, and their records are mingled with scripture, though 
nothing really commanding, as, “thou shalt.” 

The first book that I introduce is 1. Esdra., the first book of the Apo- 
crypha. 

Now in the beginning of this book we find those people in Jerusalem. 
But in the first chapter, fifty-second verse we find “the kings of the Chaldees 
to come up against them; who slew their young men with the sword. . .. 
and spared neither young man nor maid, old man nor child. ” 56, “And 

the people that were not slain with the sword, he carried into Babylon.” 

Now we find those Jews in Babylon, in the year 590 B. C 

Let me say here, that some have said to me that the religion of the Jews 
were very frail, it allowed them to fight and kill all the time. To this I shall 
say, that, because I am a trying to live a Christian life, I have not got to 
earn my money and then let you plunder it at your leisure, without any 
resistance on my part. There is no Christianity in so doing. I know that 
Jesus’ words are quoted, “him that taketh away thy cloak forbid not to take 
thy coat also.” To this I say, give us Jesus’ whole sermon that included 
those words, which will explain those words more plainly. 

I say that there is no person that can pass through this life without com- 
mitting a sin. I say that it is a sin to earn money enough to support your- 
self and family, and then let yourself or family suffer, for fear of hurting 
someone in defending your rights against robbery of that money. If an enemy 
comes and brings evil before you, turn to the right and go around that evil: 
if you meet evil at the right, turn to the left: if you meet evil at the left, 
stop, and without anger consider, and op all op the evils that are before 
you, do ye the least, always giving home, and companion, the preference : 
Though the stone you have thrown, in self-defense of clothing or food, for 
yourself or family, kills the robber, it is still a righteous throw. 

As for the Jews they were all heathens; the whole world was filled with 
many tribes of Indians or heathens. Because God inspired Moses with the 
idea of taking a step toward morality, that did not make him a perfect 
moralist. Because Moses led a tribe of those heathens out of heathenism 
— through the wilderness — toward perfect morality : that did not make them 
a perfect moral nation. Because the Bible calls them righteous, that did not 
make them perfectly righteous. But on the contrary all the way through, 
their records show that they found heathens mingled among them. As per- 
fect as our nation is' to-day, we find no person perfect, we find heathens 
mingled among us. 

Because God inspired Moses with a mind to take the first step toward 
leading the world out of heathenism, and toward righteousness, and because 
the people were trying to follow Moses’ precepts, they should not sit down 
and say to other nations, we are trying to be good people, treat us as you 


556 


now ARE WE LED? 


may we will not resist it. In looking over their records, found in the Apo- 
crypha, we find that they tried that, they sat right still and let their enemy 
massacre them because they would not fight on the sabbath- day. 

Macc. 2:15, “The king’s officers came into the city Modin, to 

make them sacrifice, ” according to “the kings commandments,” 19. “Then 
Mattathias answered. . . . Though all the nations that are under the king’s 
dominion obey him, and fall away .... from the religion of their fathers, ” 
20, “yet will I and my sons and my brethren walk in the covenant of our 
fathers.” 28. “So he and his sons fled into the mountains. ” 32. “They 

pursued after them. . . . and made war against them on the sabbath-dav.” 
36. “They answered them not, neither cast they a stone at them.” 37. 
“But said, let us die all in our innocence: heaven and earth shall testify for 
us, that ye put us to death wrongfully.” 39. “Now when. . . . his friends 
understood hereof” 40 “one of them said to another, if we all do as our 
brethren have done, and fight not for our lives and laws .... they will .... 
root us out of the earth.” 41. “At that time therefore they decreed, say- 
ing, whosoever shall come to make battle with us on the sabbath-day, we 
will fight against him. ” 

Now the very people that curse the Jews and say that they were having 
wars and killing people, and at the same time pretending to be righteous: 
will now turn to cursing those people, and say, the cursed fools ought to have 
been killed, if they were so strict to their morals as to die rather than fight 
in self-defense on the sabbath-day. 

There is no truer Christian teacher on earth than I am, yet I say, there 
is no God, no Christ, no Christianity nor no morality that requires any one to 
suffer a wrong — outside of the home circle — without trying to defend 
themselves against such wrongs. In the home circle, and at the very earliest 
of infancy, is the place and time to cultivate true morality, and morality is 
Christianity, and Christianity is Christ, and Christ is God. 

If I were to know that an immoralist was to come and rob or murder me 
or my Christian children, and no way to revoke their works except to kill, 
my Christianity would permit me to kill that immoral person, and yet be no 
murder. But if my immoral child provokes his murder, I cannot revenge 
his murder and yet be a Christian. 

Looking at religion in this light, I cannot condemn lynch law, where 
civil law will not reach justice. 

But we left the Apocrypha with the remnant of the Jews in Babylon, 
590 years B. C. , then we follow their records down seventy years, to 520 B. C. , 
and we find them returning to Jerusalem with one Jesus the son of Josedec 
as one of their leaders. 

Chap. 5:1. “After this were the principal men of the families chosen 
according to their tribes, to go up with their wives,” 4, “and these are the 
names of the men which went up:” 5, “Jesus the son of Josedec, .... and 
Joacim the son of Zorobabel,” 8, “and they returned unto Jerusalem. . . . 
with Jesus, Nehemias and Zacharias.” 48, “Then stood up Jesus the son of 


HOW are we led? 


557 


Josedec, .... and made ready the altar of the God of Israel/’ 56, “and in 
the second year and second month after his coming .... Jesus the son of 
Josedec, and their brethren .... all they that were come unto Jerusalem out 
of the captivity. . . . laid the foundation of the house of God.” 58, “Then 
stood up J esus, and his sons and brethren .... to advance the work in the 
house of God. So the workmen built the temple of the Lord.” 

Our preachers tell us that religion was given to the Jews and to the Jews 
alone, and that no other people ever possessed religion until Jesus of Naza- 
reth came to give it to all people. But here we find that the king of Baby- 
lon killed the most of the Jews and took the remainder of them to Babylon. 
Now they come back and find other people there, and though they profess to 
embrace the same religion, yet the Jews will not join hands with them. 

Chap. 5:66. “When the enemies heard it,” 68, “they went to 

Zorobabel and Jesus, and the chief of the families, and said unto them, We 
will build together with you, 69, for we likewise, as ye, do obey your Lord, 
and do sacrifice unto Him. ” 70, “Then Zorobabel and Jesus, and the chief 

of the families of Israel, said unto them, It is not for us and you to build 
an house unto the Lord, our God. We ourselves alone will build unto the 
Lord of Israel.” 

The Jews constituted one church and their enemies constituted another 
church and they would not build together, both professing the Israelite 
religion. Our people are the same to-day, the Catholic and Protestant both 
professing the Christian religion, yet they could not be hired to build 
together. 

In the next chapter we find thar they, 6:2, “Stood up Zorobabel, the 
son of Salathiel, and Jesus, the son of Josedec, and began to build the 
house of the Lord at Jerusalem. ” 

Next, we find that when the Jews were captives in other nations they 
mingled together in marriage as well as otherwise. 9:17, “So their cause 
that held strange wives was brought to an end;” 18, “and of the priests that 

had strange wives, there were found,” 19, “of the sons of Jesus the 

son of Josedec/’ etc., 20, “they gave their hands to put away their wives, ” 47, 

< ‘and all the people answered amen, and lifting up their hands they fell to 

the ground and worshipped the Lord ; also J esus, Anus, Sarabias the 

Levites taught the law of the Lord, making them withal to understand it.” 

Now we will turn to the book Ecclesiasticus, and here we will find this 
man “Jesus” once more spoken of as a seal to religion. 

49:12. “How shall we magnify Zorobabel? Even he was a signet on 
the right hand. So was Jesus, the son of Josedec, who in their time built 
the house, and set up an holy temple to the Lord.” 

Now we find this man “Jesus” many times spoken of, and spoken of as 
a very zealous man, trying to lead the people into the practice of better 
morals. Then we turn back a few chapters and we find another man — 

“Jesus” spoken of as being of another father by the name of “Nave.” 

This Jesus wps a great warrior. 46:1. “Jesus, the son of Nave, was valiant 


558 


HOW ARE WE LED? 


in the wars, and was the successor of Moses in prophecies.” 

Here we have found two men by the name of “Jesus” before the year 
500 B. C. Now we will come down to a period of 200 years B. C. Here we 
find two men by the name of “Jesus.” The one was a grandfather to the 
other. The grandfather began to write his proverbs, but died before finish- 
ing, and afterward the grandson by the same name “Jesus” took up those 
proverbs and finished them. 

This grandson also wrote a prologue and placed it in front of those 
proverbs. 

I will copy a part of this prologue, and also sketch their proverbs. 


CHAPTER XVII. 

The Wisdom of Jesus, the Son of Sirach. Jesus, His Grandfather. Jesus, the 
Son of Nave. Jesus, the Son of Zebedec. And Jesus, the Son of David, or 
Jesus of Nazareth. “The Prologue of the Wisdom of Jesus, the Son of 
Sirach.” 

“This Jesus was the son of Sirach, and grandchild of Jesus of the same 
name. ” 

“Whereas, Many and great things have been delivered unto us by the 
law and the prophets, and by others that have followed their steps, for 

which things Israel ought to be commended for learning and wisdom 

My grandfather, Jesus, when he had much given himself to the reading of 
the law and the prophets and other books of our fathers, and had gotten 
therein good judgment, was drawn on also himself to write something per- 
taining to language and wisdom, to the intent that those who are desirous to 
learn and are addicted to these things might profit much more in living accord- 
ing to the law The same things uttered in Hebrew and translated into ' 

another tongue have not the same force in them Coming into Egypt 

when Energetes was king, and continuing there some time, I found a book of 
no small learning; therefore I thought it most necessary for me to bestow 
some diligence and travail to interpret it, using great watchfulness and skill 
in that space to bring the book to an end and set it forth for them also, 
which in a strange country are willing to learn,” 

It appears that the Jesus’ that they had in the years B. C. were noted 
for their wisdom in works and writings. Jesus of Nazareth was not noted 
for writing, “having never learned.” But He was noted for His high cogni- 
tion direct from Hod. 

This Jesus before us now was noted for his writing, so we will now 
sketch his proverbs. 


HOW ARE WE LED? 


559 


Ecc. 1:1. “All wisdom cometh from the Lord. ” 

5. The word of God is the foundation of wisdom. 

6. To whom hath the root of wisdom been veiled? 7. Unto whom 
hath the knowledge of wisdom been manifest? 12. The fear of the Lord 
maketh a merry heart. 14. To fear the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. 
19. Wisdom raineth down skill, knowledge and understanding. 23. A 
patient man will bear for a time. 26. If thou desire wisdom, keep the com- 
mandments. 27. For the fear of the Lord is wisdom. 29. Take good heed 
what thou speakest. 2:1. My son, if thou earnest to serve the Lord, pre- 
pare thy soul for temptation. 3. Cleave unto him, and depart not awaj^. 
4. Whatsoever is brought upon thee, take cheerfully, and be patient when 
thou art changed to a low estate. 6. Order thy way aright, and trust in 

Him. 12. Woe be to the sinner that goeth two ways . 14. Woe unto 

you that have lost patience. 15. They that fear the Lord will not disobey 
His word. 16. They that fear the Lord will seek that which is well-pleasing 
unto Him. 3:6. He that is obedient unto the Lord, shall be a comfort to 
his mother. 11. For the glory of a man is from the honor of his father, and 
a mother in dishonor is a reproach to the child. 10. Glory not in the dis- 
honor of thy father, for thy father’s dishonor is no glory unto thee. 22. 
What is commanded thee, think thereupon with reverence, for it is not need- 
ful for thee to see with thine eyes. 27. An obstinate heart shall be laden 
with sorrows, and the wicked man shall heap sin upon sin. 29. The heart of 
the prudent will understand a parable. An attentive ear is the desire of a 
wise man. 4:1. My son, defraud not the poor of his living. Make not an 
hungry soul sorrowful, neither provoke a man in his distress. 8. Let it not 
grieve thee to bow down thine ear to the poor, and give him a friendly answer 
with kindness. 10. Be as a father unto the fatherless, and instead of a hus- 
band unto their mother be as a son of the Most High. 11. Wisdom 

exalted her children, and he that loveth her (wisdom) loveth life ; and they 
that seek to her early shall be filled with joy. 19. But if he go wrong, she 
will forsake him, and give him over to his ruin. 29. Be not hasty in thy 
tongue. 30. Be not as a lion in thy house, nor frantic among thy servants. 
31. Let not thine hand be stretched out to receive, and shut when thou 
shouldst repay. 5:5. Be not without fear to add sin unto sin. 6. Say 
not His mercy is great, he will be pacified for the multitude of my sins. 7. 
Make no tarrying to turn to the Lord. 8. Set not thine heart on goods 
unjustly gotten. 9. Winnow not with every wind, and go not into every way 
10. Be steadfast in thy understanding, and let thy words be the same. 11. 

Be swift to hear and with patience give answer. 12. If thou hast 

understanding, answer thy neighbor; if not, lay thy hand upon thy mouth 
13. Honor and shame is in talk, and the tongue of man is his fall. 14. A 
foul shame is upon the thief, and an evil condemnation upon the double 
tongue. 6:4. A wicked soul shall destroy him that hath it. 5. Sweet 
language will multiply friends. 7. If thou wouldst get a friend, prove him 
first, and be not hasty to credit him. 8. For some men is a friend for his 


560 


now ARE WE LEE? 


own occasion, and will not abide in the day of thy trouble. 9. There is a 
friend, who, being turned to enmity and strife, will discover thy reproach. 
12. If thou be brought low, she will be against thee. 13. Take heed of thy 
friends. 14. A faithful friend is a strong defense, and he that hath found 
such a one, hath found a treasure. 7 : 5. My son, sow not upon the furrows 
of unrighteousness. 12. Devise not to lie against thy brother, neither do the 
like to thy friend. 23 . Hast thou children? instruct them, and bow down their 
neck from their youth. 35. Be not slow to visit the sick. 9: 18. A man 
with an ill tongue is dangerous in his city. 11: 7. Blame not before thou 
hast examined the truth, understand first and then rebuke. 15. Wisdom, 
knowledge and understanding of the law, are of the Lord. 12: 1. When 
thou wilt do good, know to whom thou doest it. 4. Give to the godly. 5 . 
Do well unto him that is lowly. 6. The Most High hateth sinners. Never 
trust an enemy, for like as iron rusteth, so is his wickedness. 16. An enemy 
speaketh sweetly with his lips, but in his heart he imagineth how to throw 
thee into a pit; he will weep with his eyes, but if he find opportunity, he will 
not be satisfied with blood. 17. If adversity come upon thee, thou shalt find 
him there first, and though he pretend to help thee, yet shall he undermine 
thee 13: 4. If thou be for his prophet, he will use thee; but if thou hast 
nothing, he will forsake thee. 11. Believe not his many words, for with 
much communication will he tempt thee, and smiling upon thee, will get out 
thy secrets. 17 . What fellowship hath the wolf with the lamb? so the sinner 
with the godty. 

14. “Love the Lord all thy life, call upon him for thy salvation.” 

23 “When a rich man speaketh, every man holdeth his tongue, and 
look what he saith, they extol it to the clouds, but if the poor man speak, 
they say, what fellow is this, and if he stumble, they will help to overthrow 
him.” 

24: 2. “Blessed is he whose conscience hath not condemned him, and 
who is not fallen from his hope in the Lord. 20. Blessed is the man that 
doth mediate good things in wisdom, and that reasoneth of holy things by his 
understanding. 15: 3. With the bread of understanding shall she feed him, 
and give him the water of wisdom to drink. 6. He shall find joy and a crown 
of glory ” 

18 “The wisdom of the Lord is great. 16. He hath set fire and water 
before thee; stretch forth thy hand unto whether thou wilt. 17. Before man 
is life and death (spiritual life and spiritual death), and whether him liketh 
shall be given him. 12 Say not thou, He hath caused me to err, for He hath 
no need of the sinful man 11. Say not thou, it is through the Lord that I 
fell away, for thou ought not to do the things that he hateth. 20. He hath 
commanded no man to do wickedly, neither hath He given any man license 
to sin.” 

Our religion gives us license to sin. 

The whole Bible instructs man to live religiously, and instructs not the 
women. That has been the case so far in this book. 


now ARE WE LED? 


561 


16: 1. ‘‘Desire not a multitude of unprofitable children, neither delight 
in ungodly sons. 2. Though they multiply, rejoice not in them, except the 
fear of the Lord be with them. 3. Neither respect their multitude, for one 
that is just is better than a thousand (sinful ones); and better is it to die 
without children, than to have them that are ungodly. 24. My son, hearken 
unto me, and learn knowledge. 19: 6. He that can rule his tongue shall live 
without strife, and he that hateth babbling shall have less evil. 22. The 
knowledge of wickedness is not wisdom. 20: 1. Some man holdeth his 
tongue, and he is wise. 3. How good it is when thou art reproved to show 
repentance. 5. There is one that keepeth silence, and is found wise, and 
another by much bibbling becometh hateful. 7. A wise man holdeth his 
tongue till he see opportunity, but a bibbler and a fool regard no time. 18. 
To slip upon a pavement is better than to slip with the tongue. 31. Better 
is he that hideth his folly than a man that hideth his wisdom. 21: 2. Flee 
from sin as from the face of a serpent; for if thou comest too near it, it will 
bite thee, the teeth thereof are as the teeth of a lion, slaying the soul of man. 
12. He that is not wise, will not be taught, but there is a wisdom which 
multiplieth bitterness. 23:10. So he that sweareth and nameth God continu- 
ally, shall not be faultless. 11. A man that useth much swearing shall be 

filled with iniquity if he swear in vain, he shall not be innocent, but his 

house shall be full of calamities. 13. Use not thy mouth to intemperate 
swearing, for therein is the word of sin.” 

Now I ask, What is this that is speaking? As the mind of God often 
spake through the lips of Jesus of Nazareth, so spake the very same mind , of 
the very same God, through the pen of this Jesus. As Jesus of Nazareth told 
us that the mind of God was the great waters of life, even so, this Jesus told 
us that the very same mind of the very same God , is the great waters of life; 
that watered God’s best garden. 

Apocrypha Ecc. 24:2. ‘ ‘In the congregation of the Most High shall 
she open her mouth, and triumph before his power. 3. I came out of the 
mouth of the Most High, and covered the earth as a cloud. 4. I dwelt in 
hmh places, and my throne is in a cloudy pillar. 5. I alone compassed the 
circuit of heaven, and walked in the bottom of the deep. 6. In the waves of 
the sea, and in all the earth, and in every people and nation I got a possession. 
7. With all these I sought rest, and in whose inheritance shall I abide.” 

When the preachers get this, they will say it was a prophecy of Jesus 
Christ. I myself will say it is a prophecy of “Christ;” leaving off “Jesus,” 
for Christ is "the outstretched hand of God : and God always has — is yet — 
and always will be prophesying of Christ — his outstretched hand. 

Verse 8. ‘ ‘So the creator of all things gave me a commandment, and He 

that made me, caused my tabernacle to rest, and said, let they dwelling be in 
Jacob, and thine inheritance in Israel, (this is the very same Christ talking 
through this Jesus that talked through the lips of Jesus Christ. It was not 
the mortal body of Jesus that was created before the beginning. ) 9. He 

created me from the beginning, before the world, and I shall never fail. 10 


HOW ARE WE LED? 


In thy holy tabernacle I served before him, and so was I established in Zion. 
11. Likewise in the beloved city He gave me rest, and in Jerusalem was 
my power. 12. And I took root in an honourable people, even in the 
portion of the Lord’s inheritance. 13. I was exalted like a cedar in Laba- 
nus, and as a cypress tree upon the mountains of Hermon. 14. 1 wa3 

exalted like a palm tree in Engaddi, and as a rose plant in Jericho, as a fair 
olive tree in a pleasant field, and grew up as a plain tree by the water. ” 

Here he calls the mind of God a tree, the same as I do, and the branches 
thereof, the branches of honour and grace. 

15. “I gave a sweet smell like cinnamon and aspalathus, and I yielded 
a pleasant odour like the best myrrh, as galbanum, and onyx, and sweet storax, 
and as the fume of frankincense in the tabernacle. 16. As the turpentine 
tree I stretched out my branches, and my branches are the branches of 
honour and grace. 17. As the vine brought I forth a pleasant savour, 
and my flowers are the fruit of honour and riches. 18. I am the mother of 
fair love and fear and knowledge, and holy hope; I therefore, being eternal, 
am given to all my children which are named in him. 19. Come unto me, 
all ye that be desirous of me, and fill yourselves of my fruits. 20. For my 
memorial is sweeter than honey, and my inheritance than the honey-comb. 
21. They that eat me shall yet be hungry, and they that drink me shall yet 
be thirsty. 22. He that obeyeth me shall never be confounded, and they 
that work by me shall not do amiss. ” 

Morality is Godliness: and this Jesus in this way teaches the men (and 
points them out distinctly), to live and walk in the practice of good morals. 
And here in his way, he teaches the women (and points them out distinctly), 
to live and walk in the practice of good morals. In his way, he teaches us to 
raise our children in the practice of good morals, and in his way, tells us that 
one good moral child is better than a thousand immoral children ; and he says, 
it is better to die leaving no children at all than to leave immoral children. 
This is more than the Bible teaches us; I can’t see why this book should not 
be numbered in the Bible. 

30. “I also came out as a brook from a river, and as a conduit into a 
garden. 31. I said, I will water my best garden, and will water abundantly 
my garden bed: and lo, my brook became a river, and my river became a sea. 
32. I will yet make doctrine to shine as the morning, and will send forth 
her light afar off, 33. I will yet pour out doctrine as prophecy, and leave 
it to all ages forever. 34. Behold that I have not laboured for myself 
only, but for all them that seek wisdom.” 

What can this be but the spirit of Christ, over 200 years before Jesus cf 
Nazareth was born, saying, I have not laboured for myself only but for all 
them that seek wisdom. The same Christ but another Jesus: Jesus the 
son of Sirach. 

27:17. “Love Thy friend and be faithful unto him : 25:1. He that 
is merciful will lend unto his neighbor. 2. Lend thy neighbor in time of his 
need, and pay thou thy neighbor again in due season. 3. Keep thy word, 


HOW ARE WE LED? 


563 

and deal faithfully with him. 4. Many, when a, thing was lent them, reckoned 
it to be found: 5. Till he hath received, he will kiss a man’s hand; and 
for his neighbor’s money he will speak submissively; but when he should 
repay, he will prolong the time, and return words of grief, and complain of 
the times.” 

Next we will find him treating on the punishment of children, but before 
we go into this we will remember the words of Jesus Christ: ‘ ‘I came not to 
call the righteous, but sinners to^repentance. ” He knew that there were 
good moral men and women in the world when he was preaching, so He 
said, He did not come to call those to repentance that had nothing to repent 
of, they were all right as they were, “but! sinners to repentance.” The same 
with this Jesus, he is not telling you to punish the good children that need 
no punishment, but! the' stubborn children. But the mother is the one to 
take the lesson: If she never Tvhips her child when she is mad she will never 
injure its mortal body; and if she often whips her child — hard enough to 
bring it out of its stubbornness — when she is not mad, she will do its mind a 
wonderful site of good. So we will contribute his words to the stubborn 
child, and to the good natured mother. 

30:1. “She that loveth her son causeth him oft to feel the rod, that 
she may have joy of him in the end. 2. She that chastiseth her son shall 
have joy in him. 3. She that teacheth her son grieveth the enemy. (This 
last proverb is very true; your neighbors will make much talk about you 
punishing your child, but you should punish it just the same.) 

A girl thus brought up. 4. ‘ ‘Though her mother die, yet she is as though 
she were not dead: for she hath left one behind her that is like herself. 5. 
While she lived she rejoiced in her, and when she died she was not sorrowful. 
7. She that maketh too much of her daughter shall bind up her wounds; and 
her bowels will be troubled at every cry. (I have changed the last six verses, 
from the son to the daughter, and from the father to the mother). 8. A 
horse not broken becometh headstrong, and a child left to himself will be 
wilful. 9. Cocker thy child, and he shall make thee afraid. 12. Bow 
down his neck whilst he is young, and beat him on his sides (spank him) 
while he is a child lest he wax stubborn, and be disobedient unto thee, and so 
bring sorrow to thine heart. 13. Chastise tby son, and hold him to labour 
fsome kind of work to improve his mind), lest his lewd behavior be an offense 
unto thee.” 

29. “Wine drunken with excess maketh bitterness of the mind, with 
brawling and quarreling. 30. Drunkenness increaseth the rage of a fool 
till he offend. 31. Press not upon him with urging him to drink. 

22: 8. Let thy speech be short, comprehending much in few words: be 
as one that knoweth and yet holdeth his tongue. 

15. He that seeketh the law shall be filled therewith. 

22. Beware of thine own children . 23. In every good work trust thy 

own soul. 33:2. A wise man hateth not the law, but he that is an hypocrite 
therein is as a ship in a storm. 3. A man of understanding trusteth in the 


664 


HOW ARE WE LED? 


law. 21. Better it is that thy children should seek to thee, than that thou 
shouldest stand to their courtesy. 27. Send him to labour, that he be not 
idle; for idleness teacheth much evil. 28. Set him to work as is fit for him.” 

The nature of a child is formed in its infancy, and its mind cannot be too 
carefully cultivated. 

34: 8. “ Wisdom is perfection to a faithful mouth. 15. Blessed is the 

soul of him that fear the Lord. 19. The Most High is not pleased with the 
offerings of the wicked. 

22. He that taketh away his neighbor’s living slayeth him. 

23. When one buildeth and another pulleth down, what profit have 
they then but labor? 

24. When one prayeth and another curseth, whose voice will the Lord 
hear? 

26. So it is with a man that fasteth for his sins and goeth again and 
doeth the same, who will hear his prayer or what doth his humbling profit 
him? 

35:3. To depart from wickedness is a thing pleasing to the Lord. 39. 
But he that giveth his mind to the law of the Most High, and is occupied in 
the meditation thereof will seek out the wisdom of all the ancient and be 
occupied in prophecies. 2. He will keep the sayings of the renowned men, 
and where subtle parables are he will be there also. 3. He will seek out 
the secrets of grave sentences, and be conversant in dark parables. 4. He 
hath tried the good and the evil among men. 5. And will pray before the 

Most High and make supplications for his sins. 8. He shall show 

forth that which he hath learned, and (9) many shall commend his under- 
standing; and so long as the world endure th it shall not be blotted out; his 
memorial shall not depart away, and his name shall live from generation 
to generation. 10. Nations shall show forth his wisdom. 

40:20. “Wine and music rejoice the heart, but the love of wisdom is 
above them both.” 

21. The pipe and the psaltery make sweet melody, but a pleasant 
tongue is above them both. 

41:8. “Woe be unto you, ungodly men, which have forsaken the law 
of the Most High God.” 

Our entire Christian leaders have forsaken the law and depend upon 
faith. The law says, Thou shalt not kill; thou shalt not steal; but our Chris- 
tian leaders unanimously say, If you murder, if you steal, or do minor 
crimes, Jesus Christ will hide those crimes from God, and take you into 
heaven just the same if you just have faith in His glorious name and confess 
his heirship. 

I am as strong a Christian as walks the face of the earth. [ say walk 
under the law without being compelled by the law, and place your great faith 
in the Christ that dwells in your own bosom. Yet I say that the law don’t 
hold us as firmly as the Jews thought it did, when they sat still and let their 
enemy massacre them rather than fight on the Sabbath day. I say the Sab- 


HOW AKE WE LED? 


565 


bath was made to fit the necessities of man, not the necessities of man made 
to fit the Sabbath, but never of yourself make your necessities to bear upon 
the Sabbath day. I say that Christians are not prohibited of defending their 
rights just because they are Christians, even though you may have to kill 
your enemy in such defense, but never of yourself agitate into defense. I 
say there is no Christian that can pass through this life without doing some 
evil, but a true Christian will never do an evil when they can go around that 
evil, but when there are evils at the right and evils at the left that you can’t 
go around stop and choose ; of all the evils do ye the least, always giving 
the home circle the preference; let Christianity reign at home first. 

42:7. 1 ‘Put all in writing that thou givest oat or receivest in” (keep 

book account). 

Some claim that writing material was so hard to get that in writing the 
Scriptures they had to write lengthwise, then turn the same sheet aDd write 
on it crosswise, and then separate each writing each time it was read. But 
I can’t believe that; this man, in different places, speaks as though writing 
material was not so hard to get. 

We will now read his proverbs of the women. I will say of the women 
as I said of the children: Jesus “did not come to call the righteous, but 
sinners to repentance.” This Jesus praises the good women and curses the 
wicked women. You must be your own judge whether he meant you or 
someone else; your own mind must be your own commender or your own 
condemner. 

42:12. “Behold not everybody’s beauty and sit not in the midst of 
women. ” 

37:1. Every friend saith, lam his friend also, but there is a friend 
which is only a friend in name. 

2. Is it not a grief unto death when a companion and friend is turned 
to an enemy? 

4. There is a companion which rejoiceth in the prosperity of a friend, 
but in the time of trouble will be against him. 

25:23. A wicked woman abateth the courage, maketh an heavy coun- 
tenance and a wounded heart; a woman that will not comfort her husband in 
distress maketh weak hands and feeble knees. 

20. As the climbing of a sandy way is to the feet of the aged, so is a 
wife full of words to a quiet man. 

13. Give me any plague but the plague of the heart, and any wicked- 
ness but the wickedness of a woman. 16. I had rather dwell with a lion 
and a dragon than to keep house with a wicked woman. 17. The wickedness 
of a woman changeth her face. 18. Her husband shall sit among his neigh- 
bors. 19. All wickedness is but little to the wickedness of a woman; let 
the portion of a sinner fall upon her. 24. Of the woman came the begin- 
ning of sin, and through her we all die. 

^ 42:13. For from garments cometh a moth, and from women wicked- 
ness. 6. Sure keeping is good where an evil wife is.” 


566 


HOW ARE WE LED? 


25:21. “Stumble not at the beauty of a woman, and desire her not for 
pleasure. 22. A woman, if she maintain her husband, is full of anger, im- 
pudence and much reproach. 26:6. But a grief of heart and sorrow is a 
woman that is jealous over another woman, and a scourge of the tongue 
which communicateth with all. 7. An evil wife is a yoke shaken to and fro; 
he that hath hold of her is as though he held a scorpion. 8. A drunken 
woman and a gadder abroad causeth great anger, and she will not cover her 
own shame. 10. If thy daughter be shameless keep her in straitl} r , lest she 
abuse herself through overmuch liberty.” 

11. “Watch over an impudent eye, and marvel not if she trespass 
against thee 12. She will open her mouth as a thirsty traveler when he 
hath found a fountain. 28:15. A backbiting tongue hath cast out virtuous 
women and deprived them of their labors. 18. Many have fallen by the 
edge of the sword, but not so many as have fallen by the tongue.” 

26:24. A dishonest woman condemneth shame, but an honest woman 
will reverence her husband. 

1. Blessed is the man that hath a virtuous wife. 26. A woman that 
honoreth her husband shall be judged wise of all, but she that dishonoreth 
him in her pride shall be counted ungodly of all. 

7 :19. Forget not a wise and good woman, for her grace is above gold. 
40:19. Children and the building of a city continue a man’s name, but a 
blameless wife is counted above them both. 21. The pipe and the psaltery 
make sweet melody, but a pleasant tongue is above them both. (A pleasant 
tongue is above all other things in this life; or, rather an unpleasant tongue 
challenges all else that is incident to mortality) . 

25:1. In three things I was beautified, and stood up beautiful both 
before God and man — the unity of brethren, the love of neighbors, a man 
and a wife that agree together. 2. Three sort of men my soul hateth, and I 
am greatly offended at their life — a poor man that is proud, a rich man that 
is a liar, and an old adulterer that doteth.” 

7:1. “Bo no evil, so shall no harm come unto thee. 2. Depart from 
the unjust and iniquity shall turn away from thee. 3. My son, sow not 
upon the furrows of unrighteousness, and thou shalt not reap them seven 
fold. 13. Use not to make any manner of lie, for the custom thereof is not 
good. 14. Use not many words in a multitude of elders, and make not 
much babbling when thou prayest. 15. Hate not laborious work, neither 
husbandry, which the Most High hath ordained. 16. Number not thyself 
among the multitude of sinners. 18. Change not a friend for any good by 
no means; neither a faithful brother for the gold of Ophir.” 

This Jesus teaches man to practice all manner of morality. He teaches 
woman that from woman first came sin (disobedience), whereby all must die 
(spiritual death), and that man cannot live a righteous life with a wicked 
woman; and he teaches us to choose a good woman and to apprize her above 
all else. He teaches us to raise our children to industry and perfect morality 
by compulsion when they will not obey without compulsion. That is more 


HOW ARE WE LED? 


56 ? 


than the Bible teaches us ; but now let us see where He says we will get our 
reward. Our preachers teach us that religion was commanded of the Jews, 
and that their only reward was a promise of earthly inheritance. 

41: 1. “Woe unto you, ungodly men, which have forsaken the law of 
the most high God! for if ye increase it shall be to your destruction. 9. 
And if ye be born (spiritual birth), ye shall be born for a curse; and if ye 
die (spiritual death), a curse shall be your portion. (As I understand this, 
he tells the wicked that if the spirit lives after the mortal body dies, that 
is spiritual birth — it |is born into the spiritual world ; but if the spirit live 
not after the death of the mortal body, that is spiritual death. But in 
spiritual life or death, he says:) 10. The ungodly shall go from a curse 
to destruction. 11 : 26. For it is an eas}” thing unto the Lord in the day of 
death to reward men according to their ways. 17. Give place to the law 
of the Most High. 19. They that do things that please Him shall receive 
the fruit of the tree of immortality. 34: 13. The spirit of those that fear 
the Lord shall live; for their hope is in Him that saveth them. 36. 1. Have 
mercy upon us, Oh Lord God of all. 2. And send Thy fear upon all the 
nations that seek not after Thee. 3. Lift up Thy hand against the strange 
nations, and let them see Thy power.” 

Here he says religion was offered to all nations before Jesus Christ 
offered it. 

5. “Let them know Thee, as we have known Thee, that there is no God 
but only Thou, O God. 17. That all they which dwell upon the earth may 
know that Thou art the Lord, the eternal God. ” 

When we come to the forty-sixth chapter, the first eight verses are 
praising one Jesus, the son of Nave. The prologue at the head of this 
chapter gives this man as Joshua. But this is man's work put there long after 
the hook was written . But when I come to compare this reading with the 
reading in the book of Joshua, in the Bible, I cannot tell whether he is Joshua, 
or whether he is one that was in the same battle with Joshua. 

In the New Testament we find that the Apostles disputed among them- 
selves on different things. In Paul’s letter to the Hebrews, he speaks of 
Jesus not giving another rest, nor another day. In my former manuscript I 
quoted Paul’s words, as referring to Jesus Christ, not changing the sabbath 
day. 

After the printers had received my manuscript and my money for 
printing, they hesitated, and asked me if some of my work could not be toned 
down, or left out. The foreman pointed out the things which I should leave 
out, or change, and among the rest was the following: “Sixth: Your criti- 
cism on Jesus will not bear the test. In Heb. 4: 8, the margin gives the true 
idea, where it says Joshua. It is the same Jesus mentioned in Acts , 7: J5. 
In the book of Joshua, in the Septuagint version of the Greek, more than 
fifty times Joshua is called l Jesous ' Jesus.”) 

Acts 7: 45. “Which also our fathers that came after brought in with 
Jesus into the possession of the Gentiles, whom God drove out before the face 


568 


HOW ARE WE LED? 


of our fathers, unto the days of David. ” 

The above quotation from Acts must refer to some one away back, either 
Joshua or Jesus the son of Nave, who was with Joshua in the same 
battle. 

Now, if this Jesus is Joshua misspelt, his fathers name was misspelt 
also, for he was the son of Nave, and 

BIBLE. 

Joshua 1: 1. “The Lord spake unto 

Joshua , the son of Nun saying’, 2. 

Moses, my servant is dead; now 

go over this Jordan, thou and all this 
people. 

10: 12. Then spake Joshua to the 

Lord and said, sun, stand 

thou still upon Gideon. 13. So the sun 
stood still in the midst of heaven, and 
hasted not to go down about a whole 
day. 14. And there was no day like 
that before it or after it. 

11. And the Lord cast down 

great stones from heaven upon them 

they were more which died with 

hailstone than they whom the children 
of Israel slew with the sword.” 

Here we find this battle described, both in the records of Joshua, the son 
of Nun, and in the records of Jesus, the son of Nave. The falling of the 
hailstone and the standing still of the sun, spoken of in both places. 

As for Paul’s reference to Jesus in his letter to the Hebrews, Heb. 4: 8. 
“For if Jesus had given them rest, then would he not afterward have spoken 
of another day.” I still belief that Paul was a referring to Jesus Christ, for 
I see nothing to cause me to believe that he was referring back fifteen hundred 
years, to the very beginning of their religion — to a rest kept for fifteen 
hundred years, and no day set aside or known, as that rest day. 

Men, long since the Bible was written, has placed a short prologue at the 
head of each chapter, and mingled it in with the margin references, yet that 
don’t change my views. 

In this case the prologue says “Joshua,” and the printers letter says “it 
is Joshua misspelt.” I say that we are still in the dark as to whether it was 
Joshua misspelt, or a friend to Joshua, who walked with Joshua through that 
battle, and into Jerusalem, and my say is as good as theirs. 

If Paul was referring to Jesus Christ, and the rest on the sabbath day, 
he certainly says plain enough that Jesus had no hand in changing the sab- 
bath day. Whilst on the other hand, Paul was highly educated, his mind 
was highly infused with the whole Jewish laws, records and prophecies; and 
it is unreasonable to think that they have just discovered that Joshua, just in 
the days of Moses, had given them another rest and had sat aside no day 
upon which that rest should be taken, and they not found it out until now. 


Joshua was the son of Nun. 

APOCRYPHA. 

Ecc. 46: 1. Jesus , the son of Nave 
was valiant in the wars, and was the 
successor of Moses in prophecies, who 
according to his name was made 
great.” 

4. “Did not the sun go back by his 
means ? and was not one day as long as 
two? ” (The Bible says that Joshua 
commanded the sun to stand still. This 
Jesus says; was by His means , not by my 
means. ) 

6. “And with hailstone of mighty 
power He made the battle to fall. 


HOW ARE WE LED? 


569 


In trusting in good judgment rather than to believe all that is told us, it 
leaves us in the dark as to whether this was Joshua misspelt, or whether it 
was a different man carried away into another land — another people, carrying 
his records and religion with him, perhaps, into the land of the east — the 
land of Uz, where Job got his religion. As for me, it makes no difference, I 
am willing to say it was Joshua misspelt, or, I am willing you should say it 
is entirely a different man. It makes no difference in regard to Christianity, 
Christ or God, which it was. 

Now we have searched the first forty-three chapters of this book, of 
which we have taken a sample of, and found every verse to contain one or 
more proverbs, intended to draw the human mind closer and closer into the 
mind of God. Then we find the next six chapters to be a praising various 
noted men, many of which are spoken of in the Bible, and of others which 
are not found in the Bible, thus showing us that there were records kept of 
good, religious teachers, which we have not got. The three last verses of 
those six chapters are of this Jesus himself. In his prologue at the begin- 
ning of this book, he gives his own name and his grandfather’s name, as the 
writers of it, and his fathers name. In those verses he again gives his own 
name and his father’s name. 

50:27. Jesus, the son of Sirach of Jerusalem, hath written in this 
book the instruction of understanding and knowledge, who out of His heat 
poured forth wisdom. 

28. Blessed is he that shall be exercised in these things, and he that 
layeth them up in his heart shall become wise. 

29. For if he do them, he shall be strong to all things.” 

The next and last chapter of this book is a prayer from this Jesus to the 
Lord God and King of the world. 

The title of this book is “The Wisdom of Jesus, or Ecclesiasticus. ” 


CHAPTER XVIII. 


The Birth of King David’s Sons. The Reign of Adonijah. The Reign of King 
Solomon. The Writer of the Ecclesiastes. 

In the Bible we find that King David had a number of wives, or concu- 
bines by which he raised a number of children, and the one born first was the 
oldest, even though another woman should give birth to another child the 
next day. And the name of the mother of the oldest son was Ahinoam ; 
mother of the second oldest son was named Abigail. This woman was the 


670 


HOW AKE WE LED? 


wife of another man, and I find no trace of this child after his birth; whether 
he died or was otherwise disposed of is more than I can say. His name was 
Chileab. 

The mother of the third son was named Maacab; the mother of the 
fourth son was Haggith. This son’s name was Adonijah. The mother of the 
fifth son was Abital, and so on; and we find the name of Solomon’s mother 
was Bathsheba. 

2 Sam. 3:2. ‘ ‘And unto David were sons born in Hebron, and his first 

born was Ammon, of Ahinoam. 3. And his second, Chileab, of Abigail; 

and the third, Absalom, the son of Maacab. 4. And the fourth, 

Adonijah, the son of Haggith. 28. Now Absalom had commanded his 
servants, saying: “Mark ye now when Amnon’s heart is merry with wine, 
and when I say unto you, smite Amnon, then kill him. 29. And the servants 
of Absalom did unto Amnon as Absalom had commanded.” 

Now we find the first-born of David’s sons to be dead; and no trace of 
the second one after his birth: we will now turn to chapter 18: 14. “Then 
said Joab, I may not tarry thus with thee. And he took three darts in his hand 
and thrust them through the heart of Absalom. 17. And they took Absa- 
lom and cast him into a great pit in the wood, and laid a very great heap of 
stones upon him. ” 

Here we find the third of David’s sons is killed, and the fourth is now 
oldest to heir the estate. Now we will go on to the first Kings. 1 : 1. “Now 
king David was old and stricken in years ; and they covered him with clothes 
but he got no heat.” 

Now we know not how long David remained old and feeble before his 
death; but when we come to the fifth verse, we find that “Adonijah the son 
of*Haggith exalted himself, saying, I will be king.” David’s oldest living 
son. 

Now we will turn to the “Song of Solomon”. Solomon was considered 
a very great man, a very wise man, because he used the people’s money, and 
did great work with it. But where did he show his wisdom when he wrote 
his song? Every word of his song is directed to the love of women. Not 
one word do I find in it teaching us, or advising us to do right; I cannot see 
the object of placing this book in the Bible. The only wisdom that I can 
see drawn out of this song, is, the boys and girls learning the art of whole- 
sale love for each other. 

Next we turn to the book of the “Ecclesiastes.” This book is said to be 
written also by Solomon. 

Ecc. 1:1. “The words of the preacher, the son of David, king of Je- 
rusalem. 12. /, the preacher was king over Israel in Jerusalem.” 

He says : I was king as in the past. He does not say : I am king. 

17. “And I gave my heart to know wisdom, and to know madness and 
folly. 16. I communed with mine own heart. . . . yea, my heart had great ex- 
perience of wisdom and knowledge. 2:7. I got me servants and maidens, 
had servants born in my house; also I had great possessions. 9. So I was 


HOW ARE WE LED? 


571 


great, and increased more than all that were before me. 15. Then said I 
in my heart, as it happeneth to the fool, so it happeneth even to me: and 
why was I then more wise? Then I said in my heart that this also is vanity.” 

I have quoted six verses from the two first chapters of this book, in those 
six verses I have found eleven expressions, expressing the idea that he had 
been a king in a time of the past] but not in the time of the present. The 
last verse speaks as though something had happened to him as it ‘ ‘would 
happen to a fool;” and sure enough something had happened to him: he had 
been dethroned from the kingdom, in the time of thepas^and now, at the time 
of his writing, he was not a king, but a preacher . 1:12. “I the preacher was 
king over Israel in Jerusalem. ’’They tell us that Solomon wrote this book in 
his old age; but this man was not so old but what he had taken to preaching, 
after he was dethroned. But what kind of a preacher was he? He was a 
preacher preaching for what he could get out of it. Not a preaching for to 
carry the human mind farther and farther into morality. What kind of a 
man was he? He was a man that was very couceity, esteeming Mmself much 
more wise, and a much greater accumulator than had ever been in Jerusalem 
before him, or after him. When the facts undoubtedly are, that he stepped 
upon his father’s throne and took possession of all that his father had, and 
then taxed his subjects heavy to accumulate more. 

2:8. “I gathered me also silver and gold, and the peculiar treasures of 

kings and of the provinces. 7. I got me servants and maidens and 

great possessions of great and small cattle above all that were in Jerusalem 
before me. 1: 16. I communed with mine own heart, saying, lo, I am come 
to great estate, and have gotten more wisdom than all they that have been 
in Jerusalem before me: yea, my heart had great experience of wisdom and 
knowledge. 17. And I gave my heart to know wisdom, and to know mad- 
ness and folly. I perceived that this also is vexation of the spirit.” 

We also find this man to be an infidel \yet a preacher ; he must have been 
a preaching for the profit he could get out of it. 

1 : 2. Vanity of vanities, saith the preacher, vanity of vanities, all is 
vanity. 3. What profit hath a man of all his labor which he taketh under 
the sun? 4. One generation passeth away and another generation cometh. 
14. I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and, behold, all 
i 3 vanity and vexation of the spirit.” 

He discourages the young from seeking wisdom. 

18. “For in much wisdom is much grief ; and he that increaseth knowl- 
edge increaseth sorrow. 2:11. Then I looked on all the works that my 
hands had wrought, and on the labor that I had labored to do; and, behold, 
all was vanity and vexation of the spirit, and there was no profit under the 
sun. ” 

He discourages the young from harboring a particle of desire for any- 
thing only for the impulse of the minute. 

°14. The wise man’s eyes are in his head; but the fool walketh in dark- 
ness, and I myself perceived also that one event happeneth to them all. 16. 


572 


HOW ABE WE LED? 


for there is no remembrance of the wise more than of the fool for ever ; seing 
that which now is, in the days to come shall be forgotten. And how dieth 
the wise man? As the fool.” 

Here he tells us plainly 9:7. “Go thy way , eat chy bread with joy and 
drink thy wine with a merry heart ; for God now accepteth thy works. 

It appears that this preacher was much given to drink, and might have 
been under its influence when he did this writing. At least he tells the young 
to drink their wine and go ahead in iniquity, for there is no hereafter, and 
that God doth except their works. 

2: 3. “I sought in mine heart to give myself unto wine. 17 The work 
that is wrought under the sun is grievous unto me ; for all is vanity and vexa- 
tion of the heart. 4 : 4. Again I considered all travail, and every right work, 
that for this a man is envied of his neighbor. This is also vanity and vexa- 
tion of the spirit. ” 

We also find him telling his people not to off er sacrifices, and not to kneel 
down or bow down in prayer. 

5:1. “Keep thy feet when thou goest to the house of God, and be 
more ready to hear than to give the sacrifice of fools. 3 : 22. Wherefore I 
perceive that there is nothing better, than that a man should rejoice in his 
own works; for that is his portion; for who shall bring him to see what shall 
be after him? 2: 21. For there is a man whose labor is in wisdom, and in 
knowledge, and in equity ; yet to a man that hath not labored therein shall he 
leave it for his portion. This also is vanity and a great evil. 6: 11. Seeing 
there are many things that increase vanity, what is man the better? 7. All 
the labor of man is for his mouth, and yet the appetite is not full. 12. For 
who knoweth what is good for man in this life, all the da} T s of his vain life 
which he spendeth as a shadow? For who can tell a man what shall be after 
him under the sun? 3: 21 Who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth up- 
ward and the spirit of beast that goeth downward to the earth? 7:14. In 
the day of prosperity be joyful, but in the day of adversity consider. God 
also hath set the one over against the other to the end that man shall find 
nothing after him. 15. All things have I seen in the days of my vanity. 8: 

There is no man that hath power over the spirit, to retain the spirit 

neither shall wickedness deliver those that are given to it. ” 

This is a great mistake. No man shall have power over the spirit when 
they teach us that the spirit is so far beyond the perceivable knowledge of 
man; but when they teach us that the mind is the realizing part of the spirit, 
mothers have a great power over the cultivation of that spirit. And when it 
is about to leave the infant body she has the power to retain that spirit and 
hold it with the body for many years . 

9: 3. “This is an evil among all things that are done under the sun, 
that there is one event unto all; yea also, the heart of the sons of men is full 
of evil and madness is in their heart while they live, and after that they go to 
the d^ad. 2. All things come alike to all ; there is one 'event to the right- 
eous -\nd to the wicked to the clean and to the unclean ; to him that 


HOW ARE WE LED? 


573 


sacrifieth and to him that sacrifieth not; as is the good, so is the sinner; and 
he that sweareth as he that feareth the oath. 12. 7. Then shall the dust 
return to the earth as it was ; and the spirit shall return unto God who gave 
it. 6:6. Yea, though he live a thousand years twice told, yet hath he seen 
no good; do not all go to one place? 

How plainly he teaches the world to commit depredation and suicide. 

3:17. “I said in mine heart, God shall judge the righteous and the 
wicked; for there is a time there for every purpose and for every work. 18. 
I said in my heart concerning the estate of the sons of man, that God might 
manifest them and that they might see that they themselves are beasts. 19. 
For that which befalleth the sons of man befalleth beasts; even one thing be- 
f aileth them ; as the one dieth, so dieth the other ; yea, they have all one 
breath, so that a man hath no pre-eminence above a beast, for all is vanity. 
20. All go unto one place, all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again. 21. 
Who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward, and the spirit of the 
beast that goeth downward to the earth.” 

Now we have a sample of the contents of this book ; not one word is 
found in this book calculated to draw the human mind closer to the practice 
of Morality. Who can say that this book was not written by an infidel; yet 
it is said that this book was written by King Solomon, and that King Solomon 
was the wisest man in the Jewish records. I see no wisdom in this book. 
12:10. “The preacher sought to find out acceptable words.” And I think 
he found words that the heathen would accept. 

We left First Kings where Adonijah, David’s oldest living son (1:5) 
“exalted himself, saying, I will be king.” Now we turn to the eleventh 
verse to learn that Nathan and Solomon’s mother conspired together to de- 
throne Adonijah. 

11. “Nathan spake unto Bathsheba, the mother of Solomon. 12. Let 
me, I pray thee, give thee counsel, that thou mayest save thine own life and 
the life of thy son Solomon. 13. Go and get thee in unto King David, and 
say unto him, Didst not thou, my lord, O king, swear unto thine handmaid, 
saying, Assuredly Solomon, thy son shall reign after me, and he shall sit 
upon my throne? Why then doth Adonijah reign? 14. Behold, whilst 
thou yet talk there with the king, I also will come in after thee and confirm 
thy words. 15. And Bathsheba went in unto the king into the chamber; 
and the king was very old.” 

Here we find that the king was somewhat dotard, and it was necessary 
for a younger man to sit upon the throne; how long Adonijah had sat there 
we cannot tell . 

17. “And she said unto him, My lord, thou swearest by the Lord, thy 
God, unto thine handmaid, saying, Assuredly, Solomon, thy son shall reign 
after me, and he shall sit upon my throne; (18) and now, behold, Adonijah 

reigneth ; (20) and thou, O lord, the king, tell them who shall sit on 

the throne of my lord the king after him . 22. Whilst she yet talked with 

the king, Nathan, the prophet, also came in. 24. And Nathan said, My 


574 


HOW ARE WE LED? 


lord, 0 king, hath thou said Adonijah shall reign after me, and he shall sit 
upon my throne, etc. 28. Then King David answered and said, Call me 
Bathsheba. And she came. 29. And the king swore and said, As the Lord 
liveth, that hath redeemed my soul out of all distress; (30) even as I swear 
unto thee by the Lord God of Israel, saying, ‘ ‘Assuredly, Solomon, thy son 
shall reign after me.” 

Now we find King David gives Solomon the power to dethrone his older 

brother. 2:22. “King Solomon answered and said ask for him the 

kingdom also, for he is mine elder brother.” Solomon himself acknowledgetk 
that Adonijah is older than himself. 

1:43. “And Jonathan answered and said to Adonijah, Verily, our lord, 
King David, hath made Solomon king. 46. And also Solomon eitteth on the 
throne of the kingdom. 50. And Adonijah feared because of Solomon. 51. 
And it was told Solomon. 52. And Solomon said, If he will show himself a 
worthy man, there shall not an hair of him fall to the earth; but if wicked- 
ness shall be found in him he shall die. 53. So King Solomon sent and they 
brought him down from the altar. And he came and bowed himself to King 
Solomon; and Solomon said unto him, Go to thine home.” 

How long Adonijah was dethroned before he was slain I know not, but I 
believe that he took to preaching and writing after he was dethroned. 

2: 13. “Then sat Solomon on the throne. 13. And Adonijah the son 
of Haggith came to Bathsheba the mother of Solomon. 17. And he said, 
speak, I pray thee, unto Solomon the king, for he will not say thee nay, that 
he give me Abishag the Shunnamite to wife. 19. Bethsheba therefore went 
unto king Solomon. 21. And she said: let Abishag the Shunammite be given 
to Adonijah thy brother to wife. 22. And king Solomon answered and said 
unto his mother: And why dost thou ask Abishag the Shunammite for Ado- 
nijah? Ask for him the kingdom also. 23. Then king Solomon swore by the 
Lord, saying, God d6 so to me, and more also, if Adonijah have not spoken 


this word against his own life. 24. Now therefore Adonijah shall 

be put to death this day. 25. And king Solomon sent Benaiah 

and he fell upon him that he died.” 


Now we find that the book of Ecclesiastes was written by a man who was 
not king at the time of his writing, but who had been king previous to his 
writing; we also find that king David’s older son, Adonijah, served king for a 
time and then was dethroned and lived for a time off from the throne. Now 
we will turn to the eleventh chapter of First Kings, and there we will find 
that Solomon reigned king until the time of his -death. 

Kings 11:1. King Solomon loved strange women. 4. His heart was 
not perfect with the Lord his God. 6. And Solomon did evil in the sight 
of the Lord. 7. Then did Solomon build an high place for Chemosh. 8. 
And likewise did he for all his strange wives. 11. Wherefore the Lord said 

unto Solomon I will surely rend the kingdom from thee, and will give 

it to thy servant. 12. 1 will not do it for David , thy father's sake . , but I will 
rend it out of the hand of thy son. 26. And Jeroboam Solomon’s 


now am: 


575 


v. K I.i. b? 


servant lift up his hand against the king. 40 . Solomon sought there- 
fore to kill Jeroboam, and Jeroboam arose, and fled into Egypt anil 

was in Egypt until the death of Solomon. 42. And the time that Solomon 
reigned in Jerusalem, over all Israel, was forty years. 43. And Solomon 
slept with his fathers, and was buried in the city of David, his father.” 

Solomon is counted to have been the wisest man in the whole Jewish 
record; but I don’t believe that the Ecclesiastes was written by him, and be- 
sides that I see no wisdom in the book; though the writer boasted very much 
of his wisdom. He said that he was much given to drink, and a drunkard is 
much given to conceit. 

As for the Song of Solomon, I find no wisdom in that, for that is entirely 
composed of love for the women; andAfs record shows that “he loved many 
strange women” But, in the Apocrypha we find a small book entitled “The 
Wisdom op Solomon. This book is composed of proverbs, similar to the 
proverbs in the book entitled The Wisdom op Jesus or TheEcclesiasticus: 
it is mingled also with proverbs similar to the proverbs that we have just 
gone over in the preacher’s writings. But we learn that the proverbs that are 
intended to draw the human mind closer and closer into Christ, are Solomon’s 
own words; whilst the infidelic proverbs, are the words of the sinner, that 
he has quoted. We learn this by reading the first verse of his second chapter. 

“Wisdom of Solomon.” 2: 1. “For the ungodly say, reasoning with 
themselves, hut not right: Our life is short and tedious, and in the death of 
man there is no remedy: neither was there any man known to have returned 
from the grave. 2. For we are born at all adventure, and we shall be here- 
after as though we had never been” etc. The ungodly say this. 

I find wisdom in this book as in any other piece of scripture. But the 
greatest question in my mind is when we look back at the greatest men of our 
world, such as kings, princes, priests and bishops. How could they put the 
Song of Solomon, and the Ecclesiastes of this preacher, into the Bible, and at 
the same time leave the wisdom of Solomon and the wisdom of Jesus out of 
it? 

The only way that I can answer this question, is, by pointing out two 
great points. 

First. Those men were a dealing with heathens, and they must have 
thought, that if they left the wisdom of Solomon and the wisdom of Jesus 
out of the Bible, they could better connect with the heathenish worship by 
teaching that Christ was a divine being, and by making a worshipable image 
of the mortal body of Jesus of Nazareth by teaching that this divine form of 
Christ came back and entered into that worshipful image of Jesus, making it 
immortal and taking it into heaven. And then by teaching us that this ma- 
te-ri-al image now in heaven - is now our God - has equal power with God, 
and that we must make this ma-te-ri-al image our God, and fall down and 
worship it, as the heathens fall down and worship their ma-te-ri-al images. 

Second: They must have thought, that, by putting in Solomon’s song, and 
the preacher’s proverbs, that those teachings would give those heathens the 


576 


HOW ARE WE LED? 


privilege of going on with their heathenish practice, and yet experience 
Christian religion, and by so teaching they could gain many that they could 
not gain otherwise. 

I say, worship Christ alone, who is the true and living God. Practice 
and teach the practice of morality, in words and works, as Jesus of Nazareth 
taught us, and as Jesus the son of Sirach taught us. “Suffer little infants 
to come unto me”, as Jesus of Nazareth taught us, and as Jesus the son of 
Sirach taught us, by cultivating its mind from its very birth — by forcing 
the child to leave off profanity and practicing obedience, before the child is 
old enough to know the evil of disobedience or profanity, and by compelling 
the mother to enforce this practice upon her child from its birth. 

They tell me that my theory is poor, as there are many minor thoughts 
of the human mind that- are lost and forgotten. To this let me say, we will 
look at the trees of the forest. Their leaves seem to fall to the ground and 
decay into perfect forgetfulness. But not so; they decay, become manure 
and go back into the tree to more vigorously bring forth its branches. The 
same with the human mind ; its minor thoughts seem to fall into everlasting 
forgetfulness. Yet of them there is something remaining to the main body of 
the tree, as manure, that keeps its branches continually a growing. 

Let us 'prune it, and try to cultivate it for the improvement. Let one 
generation after another try to cultivate the branches of the tree of life, by 
forcing the mind of their infants farther and farther into moral practice, than 
they themselves can practice. 


HEALTH SUGGESTIONS. 


Now I will point out a few things to practice for health : — 

Always keep the mouth shut and breathe through the nose. Why ? 
Because the nose has a filter for the air, similar to a water filter in a cistern. 
The filth in the air is collected in the nostrils, and is washed away by the 
mucus of the nose ; thus permitting the air to go into the lungs in a 
purer state. 

This will be a hard thing for some to do ; but if thoroughly practiced 
(nights especially) for one year, without medicine, it will cure the catarrh in 
the head. 

It should always be practiced when around contagious diseases, to keep 
the filth of the disease from the lungs. 

Never let your baby lie upon the back while sleeping. Why ? Because 
when the system is disordered, the stomach is very apt to be overflowed with 
a gastric fluid, which is constantly gathering in the mouth, and evaporates. 
If the patient is lying on the back, this saliva will find its way into the lungs 
before the evaporation takes place, thus irritating the lungs and causing 
consumption. And it is impossible for medicine to have an effect as long as 
the cause is constantly present. 

If infants are trained to lie on their side whilst sleeping, they will follow 
that habit through life. Many a one has lost the life from this cause, and 
called it consumption. 

Every adult person should take a teaspoonful of common salt three times 
a day, or with each meal. Why ? Because it is better than any medicine 
that a doctor can prepare to aid in digesting the food. There can nothing 
be found which a person can regularly take that will equal salt in digesting 
the food. 

Most all diseases of the body originate from indigestion of the food. 
After diseases have originated, they may be cured by taking salt, and bath- 
ing the body in hot water. 

When persons begin to take salt they will feel thirsty ; but if they let 
the drink alone, and continue to take the salt, that thirsty feeling will soon 
leave them. They can bear that thirsty feeling a few days better than they 
can bear their illness a lifetime. 

When the system is full of salt, it will not freeze so easily, will not be- 
come overheated so easily, and will not take a contagious disease so readily. 
The smallest of infants should have a little salt every day to aid in 
digestion. 

All illness is a poisonous state of the flesh and blood, and it requires 
heat to drive that poison from the flesh ; and if permitted, the flesh will 
create heat of itself, which is called fever. If an outward sore, it will create 


fever around the sore. That sore can be cured by taking salt to aid in diges- 
tion, and by bathing the limb in hot water. If the water hurts the sore, 
grease the sore, or bind a soft cloth over it. Wind the limb with a cloth at 
the top of the water, so that the air and water will not both come in contact 
with the limb. Where the air and water both come in contact with the flesh, 
it will irritate quicker than it will down in the water. 

Place the limb in warm water, then gradually heat it by adding hot 
water, until it is as hot as the patient can bear. Hold the water at that 
temperature for an hour or more. This may be applied once or twice or a 
dozen times a day, as the patient may like. This treatment will cure 
saltrheum, or other skin diseases, even after the physicians have pronounced 
it incurable. 

To immerse the whole body this way (except the head and neck) will ef» 
feet the same cure for fevers and other diseases of the body. When im- 
mersing the body, use just enough hot water to start a sweat on the face ; 
hold the temperature just so as to keep a light sweat on the face. 

Never keep a person in the water when the mind is set against it, for the 
mind has great power in effecting or hindering the cure. 

A cut, bruise, or felon, may be cured by heating in water. 

A felon will require more successive heating than most anything else. 

USEFUL HINTS. 

Break an egg in a dish, take as much antimony as will lie on half an 
inch of the point of a large blade to a pocket knife, sprinkle the antimony 
on the egg, and feed the same to your dog. If it is a young dog, one dose 
will break him from sucking eggs ; if it is an old dog that has sucked eggs 
for some time, it may require a second dose. 




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